American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Revealing Stereotypes: Evidence from Immigrants in Schools
American Economic Review
vol. 114,
no. 7, July 2024
(pp. 1916–48)
Abstract
We study how people change their behavior after being made aware of bias. Teachers in Italian schools give lower grades to immigrant students relative to natives of comparable ability. In two experiments, we reveal to teachers their own stereotypes, measured by an Implicit Association Test (IAT). In the first, we find that learning one's IAT before assigning grades reduces the native-immigrant grade gap. In the second, IAT disclosure and generic debiasing have similar average effects, but there is heterogeneity: teachers with stronger negative stereotypes do not respond to generic debiasing but change their behavior when informed about their own IAT.Citation
Alesina, Alberto, Michela Carlana, Eliana La Ferrara, and Paolo Pinotti. 2024. "Revealing Stereotypes: Evidence from Immigrants in Schools." American Economic Review, 114 (7): 1916–48. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191184Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
- I24 Education and Inequality
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets