This course will cover the economics of discrimination guided by economic theory and evidence. 

In the first part of the course, we look at some broad stylized facts relating to discrimination in the labour market (both racial and gender) and then explore some of the leading economic theories of the causes and consequences of discrimination, why it tends to persist despite the economic inefficiencies involved, the role for corrective policies, and to the extent the negative effects of discrimination are transmitted inter-generationally. 

The second part of the course includes the empirical measurement of discrimination, an overview of the economic consequences of racial and gender discrimination, which policies have been implemented to promote equality for underrepresented groups, and examines the relationship between economic inequality and intergenerational mobility. The second part also covers econometric methods used in the literature on the economics of discrimination. 

Themes and, in some cases, papers overlap in the two parts. However, they are designed to be complementary, with the first part posing stylized facts and questions and trying to interpret these using some simple theoretical models, and the second part examining the empirical implications of the theory and focusing on issues of measurement and causal identification.

Reading list is available here.