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Discrimination Against Members Of Certain Social Groups Deteriorates Social Welfare

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Discrimination against members of certain social groups deteriorates social welfare. Despite such undesirable consequences, numerous papers have shown that discrimination exist in the hiring processes (e.g., Bertrand and Mullanthain, 2004; Bush, Dahl and Dittrich, 2009). Such findings imply that employers make biased hiring decisions, and do not always maximise their companies’ productivity. In addition, the discriminated social members are discouraged to improve their productivity, which further increases the social deadweight loss.

As part of the effort to eliminate discrimination in the hiring processes, the ‘double-blind’ screening method, or ‘blind’ auditions, have been implemented. This method involves hiding candidates’ names and/or appearances from employers, such that employers only make hiring decisions based on merit and productivity. Empirical evidence from the American symphony orchestras show that audition candidates ‘blind’ increases the probability of females being hired (Goldin and Rouse, 2001). Motivated by success in the symphony orchestras, ‘blind’ auditions are now adopted in the auditions of vocal competitions. As the American symphony orchestras have seen their revenue and profits declining, it is becomes more important to test if discrimination exists in the popular music industry, especially the reality singing competitions. The primary objective of this research is to examine the effectiveness of ‘blind’ auditions in vocal competitions, using

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