Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/311979 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17540
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This study experimentally investigates the role of politics in hiring decisions. Participants acted as employers, determining the highest wage to offer candidates based only on their demographic characteristics, education, and partisanship. We find that both Democratic and Republican participants significantly favor co-partisans, with an out-partisan wage penalty of 7.5%. Discrimination is consistent across tasks that focus respectively on competence, shirking, feedback responsiveness, and voluntary effort, and appears largely driven by biased beliefs about partisan productivity, while affective polarization is also predictive of the out-partisan wage penalty. Discrimination does not increase in a treatment where workers benefit financially from being hired.
Subjects: 
discrimination
affective polarization
inaccurate beliefs
JEL: 
J70
D90
C91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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