Request for research proposals
Discrimination and affirmative action

Short description

UNU-WIDER is assembling a journal special issue focused on the discussion on discrimination against marginalized groups and policies implemented to mitigate the effects of discrimination.

Offer

UNU-WIDER invites proposals from qualified researchers for papers exploring discrimination against ethnically and racially marginalized groups and affirmative action, in both developing and developed countries. The aim is that these papers will culminate as articles in a special issue of a journal. While the emphasis is on empirical papers using survey data and lab or field experiments, theoretical work will be considered as well.

The specific objectives of this request for research proposals are:

1. To advance the understanding of sources of discrimination and its role in perpetuating inequality.
2. To shed light on the relative importance of various supply- and demand-side constraints at play.
3. To compare and contrast why some policies implemented to mitigate the effects of discrimination work while others do not.
4. To focus on various affirmative action policies that have been used to correct such historical inequalities and understand how they can be improved in case they have not delivered on the stated goals.
    

Some examples of topics of potential interest include (but are not limited to):

• Sources of discrimination and dynamics over time
• The role discrimination plays in perpetuating inequality through labour and credit markets
• Evaluations of anti-discrimination policies

Proposals from individuals (or groups of individuals) as well as non-profit organizations are welcome. Applications from suitably qualified women and developing country candidates are particularly encouraged.

See full request

RFRP - Discrimination and affirmative action what have we learnt so far