Working Paper: NBER ID: w19765
Authors: Devin G. Pope; Joseph Price; Justin Wolfers
Abstract: Can raising awareness of racial bias subsequently reduce that bias? We address this question by exploiting the widespread media attention highlighting racial bias among professional basketball referees that occurred in May 2007 following the release of an academic study. Using new data, we confirm that racial bias persisted in the years after the study's original sample, but prior to the media coverage. Subsequent to the media coverage though, the bias completely disappeared. We examine potential mechanisms that may have produced this result and find that the most likely explanation is that upon becoming aware of their biases, individual referees changed their decision-making process. These results suggest that raising awareness of even subtle forms of bias can bring about meaningful change.
Keywords: racial bias; NBA referees; awareness; media coverage
JEL Codes: D03; J71
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increased awareness of racial bias among NBA referees (Z22) | significant reduction in racial bias in officiating decisions (Z22) |
| media coverage of a study on racial bias among NBA referees (Z22) | increased awareness of racial bias among NBA referees (Z22) |
| significant reduction in racial bias in officiating decisions (Z22) | disappearance of outgroup bias (C92) |
| pre-treatment period (2003-2006) racial bias (J15) | post-treatment period (2007-2010) disappearance of bias (C22) |