Racial Discrimination

Wider Effects of Police Killings in Minority Neighborhoods

By Desmond Ang·June 24, 2020
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The Issue:

High-profile officer-involved killings of unarmed minorities have sparked nationwide protests and raised important questions about the appropriate role of law enforcement in local communities. These events comprise just a handful of the roughly one thousand officer-involved killings that occur each year

Racial Hostility in Modern America

By Eduardo Porter and Michael Klein·June 22, 2020
The New York Times and The Fletcher School, Tufts University

In this second episode of EconoFact Chats, New York Times economics reporter, and EconoFact Board Member Eduardo Porter speaks with EconoFact's Michael Klein about his new book, American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise – a timely subject in light of the recent widespread protests about systemic

Economics Research on Racial Disparities in Policing

By Felipe Goncalves and Emily Weisburst·June 16, 2020
University of California, Los Angeles

The Issue:

Protests following the horrific death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have brought a new focus to racial disparities in U.S. policing. Administrative data and quantitative research has long documented large race disparities in arrests, traffic searches, speeding tickets, and use of force. For many years,

How Can We Know if There is Discrimination in Hiring?

By David Neumark·October 27, 2018
University of California, Irvine

The Issue:

Groups of workers that differ by personal characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, past criminal record, physical appearance or disability often exhibit measurable differences in wages and employment. However, it is difficult to identify and measure the extent to which differences ...
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The Effects of ‘Ban the Box’ on the Employment of Black Men

By Amanda Agan and Jennifer Doleac·June 9, 2017
Rutgers University and University of Virginia

The Issue:

Ban the Box is a popular policy that prevents employers from asking about someone’s criminal record until late in the job application process — giving applicants an opportunity to explain their qualifications first. The policy aims to increase employment for people with criminal records, in the hopes ...
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