Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics
No 593: Endophilia or Exophobia: Beyond Discrimination
Jan Feld (), Nicolás Salamanca and Daniel S. Hamermesh
Additional contact information
Jan Feld: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden
Nicolás Salamanca: Ph.D. candidate in economics, Maastricht University
Daniel S. Hamermesh: Sue Killam Professor of Economics, University of Texas at Austin; prof in economics, Royal Holloway University of London; and research assoc, IZA and NBER
Abstract: The discrimination literature treats outcomes as relative. But does a differential arise because agents discriminate against others—exophobia—or because they favour their own kind—endophilia? Using a field experiment that assigned graders randomly to students' exams that did/ did not contain names, we find favouritism but no discrimination by nationality, but neither by gender. We are able to identify these preferences under a wide range of behavioural scenarios regarding the graders. That endophilia dominates exophobia alters how we should measure discriminatory wage differentials and should inform the formulation of anti-discrimination policy.
Keywords: favoritism; discrimination; field experiment; wage differentials; economics of education
41 pages, First version: May 2014. Revised: March 2015.
Full text files
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- Published as
- Jan Feld, Nicolás Salamanca and Daniel S. Hamermesh, (2016), 'Endophilia or Exophobia: Beyond Discrimination', The Economic Journal, vol 126, pages 1503-1527
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