ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the controversies arising over how to interpret the voluminous empirical record on the detection and measurement of the extent of discrimination. There are three main empirical strategies economists and others use, and each has flaws. As a consequence, after a half century of sophisticated empirical studies some economists would seem to believe that discrimination is almost extinct, while others continue to believe it runs rampant. The three main empirical strategies are: regression studies, audit studies, and laboratory experiments. The chapter discusses these strategies, the controversies over what the results mean, and the significance of these results for public policy. Far from being drenched in discrimination, conservatives believe that discrimination has withered away as being a factor explaining labor market outcomes. That employers discriminate over an extended period of time is inconsistent with fundamental economic logic.
