What works for whom? What theories may predict about the effectiveness of measures against employment discrimination

Abstract

PurposeEmployment discrimination persists across global labour markets inflicting considerable social and economic costs. The existing literature tends to focus on explaining and measuring discrimination or on the measures to tackle it, overlooking the links between these areas. The paper contributes to filling this gap in order to inform policy design and empirical research on the impact of anti-discrimination policies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper assesses the potential effectiveness of commonly used policy measures in tackling the types of discrimination described in the theoretical literature. The assessment is based on the underlying incentive structure of particular policies, which is matched with the behaviour of employers predicted by particular theories.FindingsThe potential effectiveness of commonly used anti-discrimination policies varies greatly depending on the source of discrimination and the target group. Some commonly used tools, such as wage subsidies are likely to have modest effects for several target groups, while employer counselling may be a more effective and cheaper alternative in many cases. Quotas may be effective against various types of discrimination, but setting them is challenging and they may yield adverse effects.Practical implicationsThe findings call for more research on and consideration of the motives behind employment discrimination in the targeting and design of anti-discrimination measures.Originality/valueThe authors propose a framework to link discrimination types with measures against discrimination and potential target groups, which allows for systematically linking the literature on theories of discrimination and research on anti-discrimination.