Biography:

Conrad Miller is an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Haas School of Business and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a labor economist who studies inequality between social groups. His research pursues three broad research questions: (1) what role do firms play in producing labor market inequality between social groups? (2) what are the consequences of discrimination? and (3) what are the effects of policy responses to discrimination?

“Class Disparities and Discrimination in Traffic Stops and Searches”

Abstract: We document class disparities and discrimination in the incidence of police searches. Low-income motorists are more likely to be pursued in pretext stops and to be searched for contraband. Yet searches of low-income motorists are less likely to yield contraband. To isolate class-based discrimination, we show that motorists stopped in multiple vehicles are more likely to be searched when stopped in a vehicle that signals they are low-income. Overall contraband yield would increase if police did not engage in vehicle-based profiling. We provide suggestive evidence that lower hassle costs associated with arrests of low-income motorists help to explain trooper behavior.