Monitoring decreases discrimination

Baker E, Grimm V, Ofek-Shanny Y (2026)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2026

Journal

Economic Inquiry Wiley-Blackwell: No OnlineOpen

DOI: 10.1111/ecin.70079

Abstract

We study whether awareness of monitoring or study participation affects racial discrimination. Online participants rated résumés signaling either a Black or White candidate under Control, Monitoring, and Experiment conditions. Across conditions, we unexpectedly find a small average preference for Black résumés, possibly reflecting temporarily heightened racial awareness. The Control condition exhibits greater racial bias in both directions. This pattern suggests that monitoring and awareness of being studied can suppress discriminatory behavior. The findings underscore the importance of credible cover stories in discrimination experiments and indicate that subtle accountability cues may reduce bias in evaluative settings such as hiring.

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität Nürnberg / University of Technology Nuremberg (UTN) DE Germany (DE) Bar-Ilan University IL Israel (IL)

How to cite

APA:

Baker, E., Grimm, V., & Ofek-Shanny, Y. (2026). Monitoring decreases discrimination. Economic Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70079

MLA:

Baker, Edmund, Veronika Grimm, and Yuval Ofek-Shanny. "Monitoring decreases discrimination." Economic Inquiry (2026).

BibTeX: Download