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Discrimination at young age: Experimental evidence from preschool children

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  • Bindra, Parampreet Christopher
  • Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela
  • Lergetporer, Philipp

Abstract

Discrimination is an ubiquitous phenomenon in many societies, but little is known about its origins in childhood. In a framed field experiment, we let 142 three to six-year old preschool children allocate a fixed endowment between an in-group and an out-group receiver in two domains (gender and preschool group affiliation). Discrimination is prevalent in our subjects, since they allocate more than half of their endowment to the in-group. The extent of discrimination is similar in both domains, suggesting that it is a universal, as opposed to a domain-specific, trait. Analyzing age dynamics, discrimination tends to get stronger with age.

Suggested Citation

  • Bindra, Parampreet Christopher & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp, 2020. "Discrimination at young age: Experimental evidence from preschool children," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 55-70.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:175:y:2020:i:c:p:55-70
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.12.026
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    Cited by:

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    2. Utteeyo Dasgupta & Subha Mani & Joe Vecci & Tomas Zelinsky, 2023. "Game of Prejudice," Fordham Economics Discussion Paper Series dp2023-06er:dp2023-06, Fordham University, Department of Economics.
    3. Nikoloz Kudashvili & Philipp Lergetporer, 2019. "Do Minorities Misrepresent Their Ethnicity to Avoid Discrimination?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp644, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. John A. List & Ragan Petrie & Anya Samek, 2023. "How Experiments with Children Inform Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(2), pages 504-564, June.
    5. Pulickal, Anuvinda & Chakravarty, Sujoy, 2023. "Subject confusion and task non-completion: Methodological insights from an artefactual field experiment with adolescents in India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Kudashvili, Nikoloz & Lergetporer, Philipp, 2022. "Minorities’ strategic response to discrimination: Experimental evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    7. Despoina Alempaki & Genyue Fu & Jingcheng Fu, 2021. "Lying and social norms: a lab-in-the-field experiment with children," Discussion Papers 2021-01, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; Children; Experiment; Fairness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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