The Geography of Discrimination Reporting
Student: Irene Lin
Professor: Kinga Reka Makovi
This summer project centered on the systematic review of the literature to aid multiple interconnected projects that study the disclosure of discrimination and harassment in the workplace, with special attention to its spatial organization. One project examines tens of thousands of discrimination claims: events that employees disclose to state-bureaucrats to determine if they have the right to sue their employer or to seek preliminary evidence they might use in court. Another project in the research design phase focuses on disclosures of such events to co-workers and the determinants of such disclosures within organizations. The reviewed literature helps at least two papers: one on the geography of discrimination claims in the state of California and another that focuses on how sensitive information (e.g., about negative experiences) travels within the company. This work helps design survey experiments and also might lay the groundwork for field experiments to encourage the reporting of discrimination.