Gs. Oettinger, STATISTICAL DISCRIMINATION AND THE EARLY CAREER EVOLUTION OF THE BLACK-WHITE WAGE GAP, Journal of labor economics, 14(1), 1996, pp. 52-78
This article develops and tests a simple dynamic model of statistical
discrimination. The model improves on earlier static models both by al
lowing ex ante uncertainty about worker productivity to be resolved as
on-the-job performance is observed and by generating several testable
empirical implications. These predictions are tested using a sample o
f young men from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, producing
mixed evidence for the model. The main empirical result is that no bla
ck-white wage gap exists at labor force entry but that one develops as
experience accumulates, mainly because blacks reap smaller gains from
job mobility.