@inbook {74836, title = {A Pollution Theory of Discrimination: Male and Female Differences in Occupations and Earnings}, booktitle = {Human Capital in History: The American Record.}, year = {2014}, pages = {313-348}, publisher = {University of Chicago Press}, organization = {University of Chicago Press}, address = {Chicago, IL}, abstract = { Occupations are segregated by sex today, but were far more segregated in the early to mid-twentieth century. It is difficult to rationalize sex segregation and {\textquotedblleft}wage discrimination{\textquotedblright} on the basis of men{\textquoteright}s taste for distance from women in the same way differences between other groups in work and housing have been explained. Rather, this paper constructs a {\textquotedblleft}pollution{\textquotedblright} theory model of discrimination in which occupations are defined by the level of a single-dimensional productivity characteristic. Because there is asymmetric information regarding the value of the characteristic of an individual woman, a new female hire may reduce the prestige of a previously all-male occupation. The predictions of the model include that occupations requiring a level of the characteristic above the female median will be segregated by sex and those below the median will be integrated. The historical record reveals numerous cases of the model{\textquoteright}s predictions. For example in 1940 the greater is the productivity characteristic of an office and clerical occupation, the higher the occupational segregation by sex. {\textquotedblleft}Credentialization{\textquotedblright} that spreads information about individual women{\textquoteright}s productivities and shatters old stereotypes can help expunge {\textquotedblleft}pollution.{\textquotedblright} }, author = {Claudia Goldin} }