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Pride and prejudice: using ethnic-sounding names and inter-ethnic marriages to identify labor market discrimination

Author

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  • Brenner, Dror
  • Rubinstein, Yona
Abstract
We use non-random sorting into interethnic marriage and salient differences between Sephardic and Ashkenazi surnames to evaluate the causal impact of Sephardic affiliation on wages. Using the 1995 Israeli Census, we estimate the effect of a Sephardic affiliation on wages. We first compare the wages of Israeli Jewish males born to Sephardic fathers and Ashkenazi mothers (SA), who are more likely to carry a Sephardic surname, with the wages of Israeli Jewish males born to Ashkenazi fathers and Sephardic mothers (AS). We find that SA workers earn significantly less than their AS counterparts. We then exploit the custom of women to adopt their husbands. surnames to disentangle actual ethnicity from the ethnicity perceived by the market. Consistent with our interpretation of the results for males, we find that it is father-in-law’s ethnicity - rather than father’s ethnicity - that shapes female wage rates, yet only for daughters of interethnic couples and others with mild skin tone who have equal chances to be perceived either as an Ashkenazi or as a Sephardic group member.

Suggested Citation

  • Brenner, Dror & Rubinstein, Yona, 2012. "Pride and prejudice: using ethnic-sounding names and inter-ethnic marriages to identify labor market discrimination," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 48932, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:48932
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    Cited by:

    1. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Ooi, Evarn & Slonim, Robert, 2017. "Racial discrimination and white first name adoption: a field experiment in the Australian labour market," Working Papers 2017-15, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    2. Štěpán Jurajda & Dejan Kovač, 2021. "Names and behavior in a war," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 1-33, January.
    3. Sansani, Shahar, 2017. "Are the Religiously Observant Discriminated Against in the Rental Housing Market? Experimental Evidence from Israel," MPRA Paper 81424, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Carneiro, Pedro & Lee, Sokbae & Reis, Hugo, 2020. "Please call me John: Name choice and the assimilation of immigrants in the United States, 1900–1930," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Xu, Dafeng, 2017. "Acculturational homophily," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 29-42.
    6. Morgane Laouenan & Roland Rathelot, 2017. "Ethnic Discrimination on an Online Marketplace of Vacation Rental," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01514713, HAL.
    7. Jung, Jay Heon & Lim, Sonya S. & Park, Jongwon, 2023. "Is your surname remunerative? Surname favorability and CEO compensation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Dafeng Xu, 2015. "Acculturational Homophily in Friendships based on English-Name Usage: A Natural Experiment," ERSA conference papers ersa15p899, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Broockman, David E. & Soltas, Evan J., 2020. "A natural experiment on discrimination in elections," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    10. Shi, Yang & Liu, Ruiming & Kang, Yankun, 2020. "Does a name change attract better students? Evidence from Chinese universities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    11. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Ooi, Evarn & Slonim, Robert, 2020. "Racial Discrimination and White First Name Adoption: Evidence from a Correspondence Study in the Australian Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13208, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Wozniak, David & MacNeill, Timothy, 2020. "Racial discrimination in the lab: Evidence of statistical and taste-based discrimination," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    13. Ivaldi, Marc & Palikot, Emil, 2020. "Sharing when stranger equals danger: Ridesharing during Covid-19 pandemic," TSE Working Papers 20-1135, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    14. Ebony McGee & Monica F. Cox & Joyce B. Main & Monica L. Miles & Meseret F. Hailu, 2024. "Wage Disparities in Academia for Engineering Women of Color and the Limitations of Advocacy and Agency," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 65(5), pages 914-942, August.
    15. Dafeng Xu & Yuxin Zhang, 2022. "Identifying ethnic occupational segregation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1261-1296, July.
    16. Mark Granberg & Niklas Ottosson & Ali Ahmed, 2020. "Do ethnicity and sex of employers affect applicants’ job interest? An experimental exploration," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Dafeng Xu, 2015. "Labor Market Outcomes of Highly Educated Immigrants: Does Your Name Matter?," ERSA conference papers ersa15p51, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Bradley J. Ruffle & Ze'ev Shtudiner, 2015. "Are Good-Looking People More Employable?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(8), pages 1760-1776, August.
    19. Shi, Yang & Chen, Shu & Liu, Ruiming & Kang, Yankun, 2022. "Fund renaming and fund flows: Evidence from China's stock market crash in 2015," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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