Impact of competition on labor market discrimination.

Summary This thesis aims to contribute to the debate on discrimination, focusing primarily on France and second generation immigrants. Competition allows us to identify certain forms of discrimination and may explain its persistence. The first chapter proposes a review of the literature developing the research on the links between competition and discrimination. The following chapters are the author's contributions to this field of economics. Competition is approached from two different angles. The first one deals with the impact of competition on the labor market on discrimination. Using a model of spatial competition, the chapter shows that non-discriminating firms benefit from the presence of discriminating firms. The second angle concerns competition on the goods market. The retail sector allows us to study its impact on the different facets of employment. The fourth chapter uses an experiment to evaluate the impact of competition in this sector on discrimination in hiring. Testing shows that competition has no significant impact on hiring. The fifth chapter uses negative competition shocks in the sector to study its effect on rent sharing among employees. It shows discrimination against women in wages. Finally, the third chapter links these two approaches, comparing the public and private sectors. The wage differentials are significant when the focus is on their nationality of origin and show some similarity between the two sectors.