| I use experimental methodology to study interactions in the labor market which are otherwise unobservable. In my experimental labor market, "workers" perform a real effort task by solving character puzzles. The worker first solves a single practice puzzle and then is paid to solve as many puzzles as possible in a 5-minute task period. I interpret the puzzles solved in the 5-minute task period as the worker's actual productivity, and the time to complete the single practice puzzle as a noisy signal of that productivity. Based on this noisy signal and other labor market characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, and urban/rural, "employers" are given incentives to estimate the productivity of workers.;In Chapter 1, "Diversity and Discrimination in Experimental Labor Markets," I study how stereotyping discrimination against ethnic minorities depends on the shares of ethnic groups in the population. To this purpose, I conduct the experiment with university students in two Chinese provinces: (1) a diverse province, where 60% of the population is Han Chinese; and (2) a non-diverse province, where 99% of the population is Han Chinese. The stereotype against ethnic minorities is measured by the employer's estimate of minority workers' productivity.;In Chapter 2, "Self-confidence and Wage in Experimental Labor Markets," I study how signaling self-confidence to employers increases the worker's wage. Self-confidence is an example of a non-cognitive skill, that is likely to be important in the labor market. My experimental framework provides an explicit measure for self-confidence: the worker's evaluation of their own productivity.;Chapter 3 proposes a methodology to measure the value of worker characteristics. In the design, employers buy worker characteristics in the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) market. Specifically, employers claim a willingness to pay (WTP) for a characteristic. This characteristic is displayed on the resume if the WTP is higher than or equal to a randomly determined price. The value of a characteristic is measured by the magnitude of the WTP.;Although Chapter 4 is not based on the experimental labor market, it serves as a complementary study to Chapter 1. To demonstrate how indirect contact can influence economic behavior, in this chapter, I study intergroup cooperation after observing in-group members interacting with out-group members.;The results suggest that indirect contact can be applied when direct contact is restricted. When intergroup cooperation is desired, yet one or more groups are not available, we can select some members from each group and perform demonstrations on the rest. This is particularly useful for majority-minority intergroup cooperation, and for groups that are segregated in many dimensions. Indirect contact also implies financial freedom, as getting every group member involved in direct intergroup contact is very costly.;To summarize, my dissertation contributes to the growing experimental labor market literature. Relative to data from the real labor markets, the experimental labor markets allow us to study otherwise unobservable interactions. With such experimental labor markets, I study the relationship between stereotyping discrimination in the labor market and diversity, the signaling value of self-confidence in wage negotiations, and an alternative methodology to price worker characteristics. In addition, I study the application of indirect contact in raising intergroup cooperation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
