Cultural transmission and discrimination

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Urban Economics
Year: 2012
Volume: 72
Issue: 2
Pages: 137-146

Authors (2)

Sáez-Martı´, Maria (not in RePEc) Zenou, Yves (Monash University)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Workers can have good or bad work habits. These traits are transmitted from one generation to the next through a learning and imitation process, which depends on parents’ investment in the trait and the social environment where children live. If a sufficiently high proportion of employers have taste-based prejudices against minority workers, we show that their prejudices are always self-fulfilled in steady state and minority workers end up having, on average, worse work habits than majority workers. This leads to a ghetto culture. Affirmative Action can improve the welfare of minorities whereas integration can be beneficial to minority workers but detrimental to workers from the majority group.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:juecon:v:72:y:2012:i:2:p:137-146
Journal Field
Urban
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29