Investigations
Fig. 1

Why Brad and Kristen beat out Jermaine and Ebony

Could the name at the top of a résumé prompt racial discrimination? According to Marianne Bertrand, associate professor in the Graduate School of Business, and MIT economist Sendhil Mullainathan, it can. Answering more than 1,300 help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago, the researchers sent four résumés—two higher quality, two lower quality, one of each with a black-sounding name—to companies seeking sales, administrative-support, clerical, and customer-service employees. Overall, “white” applicants were called back 50 percent more often than “black” applicants. Brad and Kristen were the top performing white-sounding names, while Jermaine and Ebony got the most callbacks among black-sounding names. Neil, Emily, Rasheed, and Aisha received the fewest callbacks.

— Amy Braverman