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Discrimination as a determinant of economic inequality

PublikationBokkapitel
Ali Ahmed

Sammanfattning

In ‘Discrimination as a Determinant of Economic Inequality’, Ali Ahmed, Mats Lundahl, and Eskil Wadensjö examine how economic theory can be used to unearth the mechanisms to produce discrimination and inequality, to identify the winners and losers from it, and to construct recipes for the eradication of discrimination. They stress the fact that economics is far from a unified social science and hence the need to apply different theories as different situations call for it. Two notorious cases are examined: the South African apartheid system and the American discrimination of blacks by whites. The chapter ends with an examination of a number of contemporary cases of ethnic discrimination of minorities.

Ahmed, A., Lundahl, M., & Wadensjö, E. (2024). Discrimination as a determinant of economic inequality. Inequality: Economic and Social Issues.

Liknande innehåll

Samhall work experience and employability: A field experiment on disability discrimination in the Swedish labor market
Artikel (med peer review)Publikation
Ahmed, A., Granberg, M., Khalaf, G. A., & Åberg, A.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 26(1).

Sammanfattning

Employment is vital for the quality of life and societal integration of disabled people, who often encounter barriers. Programs like Sweden’s state-owned company Samhall are designed to level the playing field. Yet, whether discrimination persists after program participation and ample work experience remains an intriguing question. We investigated whether signaling disability through work experience at Samhall affects employability in Sweden for cleaning roles. A field experiment was conducted in which 768 fictitious job applications were sent to employers with vacant cleaner positions in Sweden. Implied disability, indicated by work experience at Samhall, and gender were randomly varied in the applications. The primary outcome metric was positive employer responses. Disabled applicants received fewer positive responses (28%) than non-disabled applicants (34%). Discrimination was more pronounced for disabled male applicants. The study reveals nuanced discrimination against job applicants with disabilities in Sweden, particularly disabled males, despite their extensive training and experience.

A field experiment on ethnic bias in public housing practices in Sweden
Artikel (med peer review)Publikation
Ahmed, A., & Bandick, R.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Housing Studies, 1-21.

Sammanfattning

This paper presents the first study to investigate ethnic differential treatment in public housing through a correspondence test field experiment. The experiment involved sending inquiries from fictitious couples with Swedish or Arabic names to all public housing companies in Sweden. Four outcomes were examined: whether the public housing companies responded to the inquiries, whether they initiated their response with a greeting, whether they had a priority system in place, and whether they provided information about problematic neighborhoods. The findings revealed disparities in the treatment of the couples. The Swedish couple received greetings and information about problematic neighborhoods at a greater rate than the Arab couple. This study contributes to existing literature on ethnic differences in the housing market by providing evidence of differential treatment within the public housing sector. Additionally, it explores the content and quality of public housing companies’ responses, offering valuable insights for policymakers and housing professionals in designing interventions to promote equality and counteract differential treatment.

Interconnectedness and risk profile of hydrogen against major asset classes
Artikel (med peer review)Publikation
Lucey, B., Yahya, M., Khoja, L., Uddin, G. S., & Ahmed, A.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Sammanfattning

This study examines the interconnectedness and risk profile of hydrogen in comparison to other assets from December 2019 to April 2022, using a time-varying copula approach. The findings reveal that hydrogen’s relationships with conventional commodities and markets can shift significantly during extreme uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic had a marked impact on hydrogen’s market connections. However, hydrogen did not uniformly increase linkages, highlighting its distinct profile even as an energy commodity. Despite its sensitivity to crises, hydrogen’s reactions were varied, emphasizing the necessity for customized interpretations. Calculation of value-at-risk, conditional value-at-risk and Delta CoVaR demonstrated that green bonds exhibited the lowest investment risks across frequencies, which can be attributed to factors such as government support and growing demand. In the case of hydrogen, the risk metrics were inconsistent, reflecting its status as an early-stage adoption asset with niche applications in transportation and industry. These findings have key implications for managing risk associated with energy transition and for facilitating the adoption of hydrogen. The empirical insights provided herein can aid policymakers in developing supportive regulations and incentives to expedite the scaling of hydrogen. Moreover, Investors can leverage hydrogen’s risk quantification for portfolio optimization and hedging strategies. Overall, by elucidating hydrogen’s unique dynamics, this study informs stakeholder decisions to facilitate the hydrogen economy.

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