Discrimination everywhere

June 12, 2023

Vox and Capital B: In a series entitled, “Discrimination everywhere: Interrogating the true toll of pervasive racism,” Vox cites the work of researchers including C3.ai DTI P.I. Sendhil Mullainathan, Roman Family University Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago.

By introduction, the editors state, “The researchers, led by Sendhil Mullainathan — one of the scholars behind the seminal resumé discrimination study “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” — reviewed decades of studies. They found that discrimination impacts consequential endeavors and mundane tasks alike, from buying a home and applying to jobs to looking for a new church and using rideshare apps. Simply put, discrimination is everywhere.”

Of the seven stories in the series, Mullainathan is also mentioned in the second installment, “Discrimination isn’t just infuriating. It steals Black people’s time”:

“In a 2004 study, Mullainathan, collaborating with Marianne Bertrand, found that Black Americans needed an extra eight years of experience to receive the same number of interview requests as a white American of equal qualifications. In the eyes of recruiters, that makes a 22-year-old white job seeker from Princeton University looking for employment in the financial sector equivalent to a 30-year-old Black Princeton graduate who started working in the industry right out of college.”