- Title
- Racial Inequality in France
- Author(s)
- Yajna Govind Yajna Govind (Copenhagen Business School)
- Paolo Santini Paolo Santini (Copenhagen Business School)
- Ellora Derenoncourt Ellora Derenoncourt (Princeton University and NBER)
- Abstract
- We study racial inequality in 21st century France. Using parents’ nationality at birth, we overcome the lack of ethno-racial statistics stemming from the country’s “color-blind” approach. We document substantial earnings penalties for racial minorities along the income distribution. Penalties are larger at the median than the top and for Middle-Eastern and North African (MENA) and Sub-Saharan African origin (Black) individuals. We compare racial inequality in France vs. the U.S. by simulating where French minorities would fall in the U.S. distribution. Black and NonWhite individuals in France benefit from the country’s lower overall inequality, but experience comparable, occasionally larger, rank gaps.
- Creation Date
- 2025-07
- Section URL ID
- Paper Number
- 349
- URL
- https://gceps.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/wp349_Govind-Santini-Derenoncourt_RacialInequalityFrance.pdf
- File Function
- Jel
- D31, J15, J71
- Keyword(s)
- France
- Suppress
- false
- Series
- 3