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Discrimination and job-uncertainty

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  • P. Frijters

    (Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam)

Abstract

In this paper I look at the possibility of encorporating group behaviour into a model of the labour market by showing that discrimination can be the result of competition between coalitions of workers and bosses for a scarce amount of jobs. Coalitions can form either on the basis of the productivity of the individual members or on the basis of a recognisable characteristic. If the probability of correctly assessing the productivity of individual workers decreases, coalition-formation on the basis of recognisable characteristics becomes relatively more rewarding than coalition forming on the basis of productivity. I thus identify the conditions under which each individual in the endogeneously defined group actively discriminates persons with different recognisable characteristics, independent of productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • P. Frijters, 1997. "Discrimination and job-uncertainty," Labor and Demography 9706001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:9706001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Antecol, Heather & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2008. "Racial and ethnic discrimination in local consumer markets: Exploiting the army's procedures for matching personnel to duty locations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 496-509, September.
    2. Antecol, Heather & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2010. "The effect of community-level socio-economic conditions on threatening racial encounters," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 517-529, November.
    3. Antecol, Heather & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2008. "Identity and racial harassment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 529-557, June.
    4. Alina Köchling & Marius Claus Wehner, 2020. "Discriminated by an algorithm: a systematic review of discrimination and fairness by algorithmic decision-making in the context of HR recruitment and HR development," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 795-848, November.
    5. Frijters, Paul & Shields, Michael A. & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 2003. "Testing for Employee Discrimination Using Matched Employer-Employee Data: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 807, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Paul Frijters, 2003. "Testing for Employee Discrimination using Matched Employer-Employee Data: Theory and Evidence," Paul Frijters Discussion Papers 2003-1, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    7. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2016. "Racial prejudice and labour market penalties during economic downturns," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 57-75.
    8. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2014. "When work disappears: racial prejudice and recession labour market penalties," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 56110, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Bart Hobijn & Carlos A. Medina-Durango, 2000. "Is Discrimination Due to a Coordination Failure?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1758, Econometric Society.
    10. Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2006. "Testing for Employee Discrimination in Britain using Matched Employer-Employee Data," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 8-2006, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    11. Frijters, Paul, 1999. "A three-factor search model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 319-324, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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