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The rigorous economic analysis of peer group formation is a burgeoning subject. Much has been written about how peers influence an individual's behavior, and these effects are quite prevalent. However, less has been written on how exactly these peer groups begin and the resulting consequences of their formation. A reason for the dearth of knowledge on peer group formation is the lack of quality data sets that clearly define one's peers. To resolve this issue, this paper explores data which allows a peer group to be defined openly through self nominations. Using these nominations as well as characteristics of the students and their friends, it is possible to see on what dimensions these individuals are sorting into friendships. The data suggests that there is heavy sorting within race and academic ability. Additionally, tests for statistical discrimination on race and academics show that it is exhibited towards blacks and Hispanics. There is also weak evidence of statistical discrimination against whites. Empirical analysis also shows that the degree of statistical discrimination decreases for blacks and Hispanics over a year, however, there is little change for whites over the same period. Keywords National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health * Add Health * Friendship formation * Statistical discrimination * School redistribution JEL J15 I2, Introduction While the analysis of peer group formation and peer effects is well established in sociology and psychology, it has only recently been broached using rigorous economic analysis. Generally, the [...]

The results from two experiments that examined the possible incidence of discrimination against people with foreign backgrounds in Sweden are presented. The second experiment which underlined the results found in the first experiment suggested that foreign co-players are discriminated against by Swedish players but people with foreign backgrounds were not found to discriminate against other people with foreign backgrounds.

The large and persistent differences in health outcomes between African Americans and whites have sometimes been attributed to differences in the quality of the facilities in which they receive care. A large body of literature documents systematically worse performance by facilities which serve a larger share of black patients. However, these estimates may be biased by unobserved variables which correlate with the racial profile of the clinic and also affect outcomes. This paper uses a unique dataset from the Department of Veterans' Affairs system to examine the relationship between the quality of health care and the racial profile of the patient population in an equal-access health care system. An instrumental variable is used to overcome the omitted variable bias in the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimates. Both the OLS and IV estimates show that increasing the proportion of visits by African-American patients results in improved outcomes for all patients treated at the clinic. The OLS results significantly underestimate the effect of increasing the proportion of black patients. Holding the overall clinic load constant and adding one hundred outpatient visits by African Americans in a year would result in a 0.5 percentage point decrease in 1-year mortality for the average patient in the clinic. Thus, contrary to results from the private health care sector, increasing clinic racial integration in an equal access system would benefit all patients. Keywords Racial segregation. Health and health care markets. Discrimination JEL 100, Introduction Research over the last 20 years has shown persistent racial differences in health care access, utilization, and outcomes. Numerous studies have documented that minorities, particularly African Americans, experience higher [...]

Nursing homes serve many severely ill poor people, including large numbers of racial/ethnic minority residents. Previous research indicates that blacks tend to receive care from lower quality nursing homes. Using the Institute of Medicine (IOM) definition of racial-ethnic disparities, this study decomposes nursing home disparities into within and across facility components. Using detailed person-level nursing home data, we find meaningful black-white disparities for one of the four risk-adjusted quality measures, with both within and across nursing home components of the disparity. The IOM approach, which recognizes mediation through payer status and education, has a small effect on measured disparities in this setting. Although we did not find disparities across the majority of quality measures and alternate disparity definitions, this approach can be applied to other health care services in an effort to disentangle the role of across and within facility variation and the role of potential mediators on racial/ethnic disparities. Keywords Racial disparities * Long-term care * Decomposition methods JEL I10 * J15, Introduction A great deal of recent policy interest focuses on racial and ethnic disparities in health care settings (Institute of Medicine 2002). Nursing home quality has been a serious concern [...]

Obesity among U.S. adolescents ages 12-19 rose from 4.6% in 1963-1965 to 17.4% in 2003-2004. This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of unhealthy body mass index (BMI) on health (e.g., obesity) and human capital (e.g., schooling) investments of adolescents. We use the propensity score method to study 8,388 individuals who responded to survey Waves I through III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), for students in grades 7-12. We estimate an economic model that captures longer-term effects of BMI categories (obesity and overweight separately) on on-time (dichotomous) high school graduation. We control for characteristics at the individual, household, and community levels. Baseline probit regression estimates were improved upon by using matching estimators (propensity scores yield consistent estimate of the average treatment on the treated) based on the nearest neighbor and the more robust kernel density weighting schemes. Results from both full and reduced models suggest no adverse impact of overweight or obesity on timely high school completion for males, but a significant average negative effect on females. Investigating disparities in effects across both gender and race, we isolate the adverse effects primarily to white and Asian females. No significant effects were found for African-Americans. One of the novel contributions of our research is that the significant effects of gender- and race- specific adolescent obesity and overweight conditions reach beyond high school GPA standing to also impact on-time high school graduation status. Keywords Adolescents * Obesity * Overweight * BMI * On-time high school graduation * Propensity scores * Add Health JEL 100, Introduction Obesity among US adolescents ages 12 to 19 has increased from an estimated 4.6% in 1963-1965 to an estimated 17.4% in 2003-2004 (Ogden et al. 2008). Most past research [...]

Much research on the issue of health disparities in the United States has been produced by health services researchers across disciplines, particularly medical care providers, public health workers and sociologists. Many economists have also studied health disparities. This special issue of Atlantic Economic Journal highlights in particular the role of economic scholarship in this important national debate. This article, introducing the special issue, categorizes the contribution of many economists to the literature on health disparity. The literature reviewed ultimately includes 107 articles published between 1998 and 2008. Articles by any of the 932 economists that were members of the American Society of Health Economists in 2006 publishing about racial/ethnic health disparities as found in Medline, articles related to racial/ethnic health disparities published in Health Economics or the Journal of Health Economics or through searches in EconLit were reviewed for inclusion. Keywords Health disparities. Health policy. Literature review JEL I-Health. Education. Welfare, Introduction Throughout US history health status gaps between the majority white population and numerous racial/ethnic subpopulations have been observed and have persisted. Life expectancy at birth, a gross measure of [...]

Two years ago, when Audrietta C. Izlar accepted an invitation to attend the unveiling of a special report on racial and ethnic disparities in health care, she wasn't expecting any [...]

In an experiment on preinterview racial bias, white sales managers evaluated the resume of either a white or African-American applicant for a sales position. Managers exhibited a preinterview racial bias, giving a more positive hiring recommendation for the white versus African-American applicant even though their resumes were exactly the same. However, when managers felt accountable to others for their evaluations, they suppressed racial bias by evaluating the African-American's credentials more positively. Our experiment identifies a condition under which preinterview racial bias against African-American sales applicants may be attenuated and delineates a strategy by which managers may overcome preinterview racial bias., Civil rights legislation of the 1960s and 1970s created a legal and moral imperative for companies to increase diversity of employment (Shepard and Heartfield 1991). Since that time, many companies [...]

Racism is a rarity in American corporate entities due in part to the good practice of corporate leaders to ensure racial equality. Mere good intentions, however, is not enough to eradicate discrimination in employment. A more subtle form of racism surfaced that is embodied in traditional American values. Individualism instead of open bigotry exists in business organizations. Diversity training is even inadequate to eliminate this archaic concept. Managers should understand this new form to avoid unintentional promotion of segregation and discrimination in organizations.

The authors examine the role that racial differences in access to high-paying occupations played in determining the racial wage gap in the 1980s. Analyzing data on black and white women aged 34-44 from the National Longitudinal Surveys for 1968-88, they estimate the effects of human capital characteristics and discrimination on segregation into high- and low-wage jobs by race. They find that differences in workers' measured characteristics explain little of either the observed occupational segregation by race or the racial wage gap in 1988. Further analysis suggests that several changes in the wage structure for women during the 1980s, notably a widening of occupational wage differentials and an increase in the returns to education, abetted direct discrimination in enlarging the racial wage gap among women., Between 1940 and 1980, black women experienced considerable improvement in their economic status relative to white women. In 1940, black women earned approximately 50% of the wages earned by white [...]

Management of diversity in corporations within the Los Angeles, CA, area is examined in the context of the April 1992 riots. The study began in late 1991 as a series of interviews with senior staff on their firms' policies on diversity. The aftermath of the Rodney King verdict shifted the study's focus to the effect of the riots on corporations' attitudes to diversity. The results indicate that most firms did not have diversity management initiatives prior to or after the riots. However, the few companies that did have diversity programs reported benefits including increased understanding of customer needs; faster product development; and improved product and service quality, employee relations and public image. The effective management of a diverse workforce emphasizes top management roles, the needs-assessment process, skills development, customized methods and the strategic aspects of diversity goals., In-depth interviews with senior executives reveal how last year's racial turmoil affected company efforts to manage diversity. The findings are both promising and disturbing. The April 1992 riots in Los [...]

Present day black Americans continue to live amidst as much adversity as did their slave ancestors. Although slavery and segregation are concerns of the past, most blacks feel that they have not yet gained full acceptance as worthy members of the predominantly white United States. The opportunities available to them remain limited even if they were as brainy, as hardworking and as capable as white Americans. Blacks do not enjoy the same feeling of safety and security as their white neighbors. The police, for instance, has come to symbolize 'help' for whites. Blacks, on the other hand, have come to expect indifference or even harrassment from the police. Blacks traveling across the country must entertain the idea that they may not reach their destinations safely. To be black in America, therefore, means living with the strain of constantly having to suppress one's emotions and opinions and fighting feelings of despair.

The UK's Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 criminalizes the employment of illegal immigrants. The Immigration Nationality and Citizenship Act 2006 makes an employer liable to pay a civil penalty if they employ an illegal migrant. However, these laws give rise to race discrimination due to the efforts of employers to reduce the time and cost in checking the status of new employees.

Elijah Ray, Council of Logistics Management, president feels that diversity in logistics workforce is increasing albeit slowly and minority discrimination continues though it has declined considerably. He also discusses his career as a logistics executive.

Byline: Rachel Witkowski WASHINGTON -- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray told House lawmakers on Wednesday that allegations of discrimination and retaliation among agency employees were a result of [...]