Introduction to Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Special Issue: Labour Market Discrimination

Abstract

Historically, the Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE) has published a number of articles looking either directly or indirectly at discrimination in the labour market. It would be fair to say though that a high proportion of these articles (and those in related journals) have been based on standard wage equations where discrimination is the residual bit left over after controlling for observable characteristics (like education and experience). While insightful in their own right, these techniques miss many aspects of discrimination. New data and new techniques (or rediscovery of old techniques) has opened up new avenues of research. Alongside new econometric techniques and the increased availability of panel data sets in Australia, our capacity to understand discrimination, and design policy that takes it into account, is greater than ever before.