Can subsidies paid directly to employers reduce residential discrimination in employment? An assessment based on serial field experiments

'Emplois Francs' is a new public policy in France that provides financial assistance to companies when they hire a jobseeker living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. This study evaluates the effect of this policy by using three waves of correspondence tests spaced six months apart to measure discrimination in access to employment based on ethnic origin and place of residence. We find a substantial level of discrimination based on ethnic origin and a lower level of residential discrimination. We find that the programme decreases residential discrimination after six months, but we cannot conclude that the effect is still present 12 months later.