Replication Data for: Learning to Be Unbiased: Evidence From the French Asylum Office

What determines whether some asylum seekers are granted refugee status while others are rejected? I draw upon archival records from a representative sample of 4,141 asylum applications filed in France between 1976 and 2016 to provide new evidence on the determinants of asylum decisions. I find that applicants who are Christian (rather than Muslim) are more likely to be granted refugee status, controlling for all other individual characteristics available to the asylum officers making the decisions. However, linking archival records to detailed administrative data, I also show that bureaucrats at the French asylum office stop discriminating after about a year on the job. These findings have implications for strategies to curtail discrimination in courtrooms and administrations.

是什么因素决定了部分寻求庇护者能够获得难民身份（refugee status），而另一部分却遭到拒签？本研究依托1976年至2016年间法国境内提交的4141份庇护申请代表性样本的档案记录，为庇护审批决策的影响因素提供全新实证依据。研究发现，在控制了审批官员可获取的所有其他个人特征变量后，信奉基督教（而非伊斯兰教）的申请者获得难民身份的概率显著更高。不过，通过将档案记录与详细行政数据进行关联分析，本研究同时显示，法国庇护审批机构的行政官员在任职约一年后便会停止歧视行为。上述研究结论对减少司法与行政领域的歧视行为具有借鉴意义。