Arbitraging a discriminatory labor market: Black workers at the Ford Motor Company, 1918-1947

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Foote, CL; Whatley, WC; Wright, G
• 署名单位: Harvard University; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/374957
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 493-532
• 关键词: economic-status; unemployment; IMPACT; POLICY

摘要

The 1918-47 employee records of the Ford Motor Company provide a rare opportunity to study a firm willing to hire black workers when similar firms would not. The evidence suggests that Ford did profit from discrimination elsewhere, but not by paying blacks less than whites. An apparent wage-equity constraint prevailed, resulting in virtually no racial variation in wages inside Ford. An implication was that blacks quit Ford jobs less often than whites, holding working conditions constant. Arbitrage profit came from exploiting this non-wage margin, as Ford placed blacks in hot, dangerous foundry jobs where quit rates were generally high.