Discrimination, technology and unemployment
2012
19
4
August
554-567
discrimination ; enterprise level ; investment ; unemployment
Human rights
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2012.05.006
English
Bibliogr.
"I study the interaction between discrimination and investment using a directed search model where firms decide the capital intensity of their production technologies before being matched. Discrimination makes some workers cheap to hire. As a consequence, some firms might save on capital costs adopting labour intensive technologies. This framework allows one to reconcile search models with three well-known facts regarding the labour market outcomes of minority workers: low wages, high unemployment and occupational segregation. Furthermore, the model questions the role of equal pay legislation in reducing inequality since removing this restriction, i.e., allowing firms to post type-contingent wages, eliminates the negative effects of discrimination on investment and wages."
Paper
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