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What's in a Name? Does Racial or Gender Discrimination in Marking Exist?

Author

Listed:
  • Chowdhury, Shyamal

    (University of Sydney)

  • Klauzner, Ilya

    (Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research)

  • Slonim, Robert

    (University of Sydney)

Abstract

We study whether racial or gender discrimination in marking exists at universities by conducting an experiment at a major Australian university where we randomly assigned names indicative of White, Chinese or Adopter identities (comprised of a White first name and Chinese surname) and male or female gender to real exam coversheets and recruited university graders to mark these exams. We find that the most economically-significant evidence of discrimination is found at grade thresholds. Exam scripts with Chinese and Adopter names are less likely than White names to receive a mark just above a grade threshold. Conversely, scripts with Chinese names receive a small marking bonus on average compared to the same script with a White name. Discrimination at grade thresholds is found to be more consistent with taste-based discrimination, whereas discrimination at the average is more consistent with statistical discrimination.

Suggested Citation

  • Chowdhury, Shyamal & Klauzner, Ilya & Slonim, Robert, 2020. "What's in a Name? Does Racial or Gender Discrimination in Marking Exist?," IZA Discussion Papers 13890, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13890
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    racial discrimination; experiment; marking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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