Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Kevin Lang
Author-X-Name-First: Kevin
Author-X-Name-Last: Lang
Author-Email: lang@bu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Boston University

Author-Name: Michael Manove
Author-X-Name-First: Michael 
Author-X-Name-Last: Manove
Author-Email:manove@bu.edu 
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Boston University


Title: Education and Labor-Market Discrimination

Abstract: We propose a model that combines statistical discrimination and educational sorting
that explains why blacks get more education than do whites of similar cognitive ability. Our model
explains the di¤erence between blacks and whites in the relations between education and AFQT
and between wages and education. It cannot easily explain why, conditional only on AFQT, blacks
earn no more than do whites. It does, however, suggest, that when comparing the earnings of
blacks and whites, one should control for both AFQT and education in which case a substantial
black-white wage di¤erential reemerges. We explore and reject the hypothesis that di¤erences in
school quality between blacks and whites explain the wage and education di¤erentials. Our ?ndings
support the view that some of the black-white wage di¤erential re?ects the operation of the labor
market.

Length:  30pages
Creation-Date: 2006-02
Revision-Date: 
Publication-Status:
File-URL: http://www.bu.edu/econ/faculty/manove/EdDiscrim.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: 
Number: WP2006-008
Classification-JEL: 
Keywords: 
Handle: RePEc:bos:wpaper:WP2006-008