Unexplored Dimensions of Discrimination

Using newly collected and existing data and modern econometric approaches, this book analyses the gender wage gap as well as less explored dimensions of discrimination such as religion, sexual orientation, and physical appearance. Part One focuses on gender. Using a newly collected database for Italy, it analyses the relevance of transition from school to work, and in particular the choice of college major, in determining the gender earning gap. It also analyses the role of family and of discrimination on the job as a potential source of this gap, using additional data from Spain and the US. Part Two analyses different forms of discrimination towards individuals in the labor market. In particular, it examines the potential for discrimination of sexual orientation, religion, and physical appearance and weight. The analysis is conducted by means of a survey of the existing literature and by an empirical analysis, using European data as well as Italian data collected through an experimental design.

Tito Boeri, Professor of Economics, Bocconi University and Scientific Director Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti,Eleonora Patacchini,Associate Professor of Economics, Cornell University,Giovanni Peri, Professor of Economics, University of California, Davis

Tito Boeri is Professor of Economics at Bocconi University, Milan and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti. His papers have been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Economic Journal, the Journal of the European Economic Association, Economic Policy, the European Economic Review, the Journal of Labour Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, and the NBER Macroeconomics Annual. He has published 11 books with Oxford University Press, MIT Press, and Princeton University Press. He is the founder of the economic policy watchdog website www.lavoce.info and the scientific director of the Festival of Economics in Trento.


Eleonora Patacchini is Associate Professor of Economics at Cornell University. She is also Research Fellow at the Center for Policy Research at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, at the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and at IZA, Institute for the Study of Labor. Her areas of interest include applied research in labour economics, cultural economics, regional and urban economics, social networks, economics of ethnic minorities, and crime. Her publications have appeared in leading general and field journals.


Giovanni Peri is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is Editor of Regional Science and Urban Economics. He has published in academic journals including the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies, The Review of Economics and Statistics, the Economic Journal, and the Journal of European Economic Association. His research has been featured in several popular Blogs and in media outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Economist.