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Abstract
This paper develops a model of traffic stops and subsequent searches in which
police officers use information about the race of drivers to maximize a well defined
objective. The model provides a behavioral foundation absent from Grogger and
Ridgeway’s (2006) elegantly simple test and, by incorporating searches, adds two
complementary tests. Using data collected during 2002 by the Minneapolis Police
Department, the tests rule out (1) statistical discrimination, (2) taste-based
discrimination by optimizing police officers, and (3) statistical discrimination
with cognitive limitations. The pattern of results is consistent with implicit
discrimination.