Nothing Really Matters: Evaluating Demand-Side Moderators of Age Discrimination in Hiring

Arbeitspapier

As age discrimination hampers the OECD's ambition to extend the working population, an efficient anti-discrimination policy targeted at the right employers is critical. Therefore, the context in which age discrimination is most prevalent must be identified. In this study, we thoroughly review the current theoretical arguments and empirical findings regarding moderators of age discrimination in different demand-side domains (i.e. decision-maker, vacancy, occupation, organisation, and sector). Our review demonstrates that the current literature is highly fragmented and often lacks field-experimental evidence, raising concerns about its internal and external validity. To address this gap, we conducted a correspondence experiment and systematically linked the resulting data to external data sources. In so doing, we were able to study the priorly determined demand-side moderators within a single multi-level analysis and simultaneously control multiple correlations between potential moderators and discrimination estimates. Having done so, we found no empirical support for any of these moderators.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16672

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Labor Discrimination ; Labor Demand ; Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination
• Subject: ageism ; hiring discrimination ; heterogeneity ; literature review ; field experiment ; administrative data

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Dalle, Axana ; Lippens, Louis ; Baert, Stijn
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282799
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET