Favouritism in the Workplace

Question 1

Becker’s model for discrimination

Answer 1

Becker’s 1957 book introduced the first economic model of discrimination.

In Becker’s model, employers hold a “taste for discrimination” meaning that there is a disamenity value (disadvantage) to employing minority workers.

Hence, minority workers may have to “compensate” employers by being more productive at a given wage or, equivalently, by accepting a lower wage for identical productivity.