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Testing for discrimination: Evidence from the game show Street Smarts

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  • Anwar, Shamena

Abstract

This paper conducts two alternative tests of discrimination in the game show Street Smarts, which both exploit the unique setup of the game to determine why discrimination occurs. The results indicate non-black contestants have a lower prior perception of the skill level of blacks relative to non-blacks in answering the average question in the game. When results are stratified by question category, one finds that non-black contestants perceive blacks and non-blacks to have equal ability in answering general knowledge questions. However, they perceive blacks to have a lower ability in answering miscellaneous, entertainment, and slang/common saying questions.

Suggested Citation

  • Anwar, Shamena, 2012. "Testing for discrimination: Evidence from the game show Street Smarts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 268-285.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:81:y:2012:i:1:p:268-285
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.10.008
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    2. Ritwik Banerjee & Nabanita Datta Gupta, 2015. "Awareness Programs and Change in Taste-Based Caste Prejudice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Morgane Laouenan & Roland Rathelot, 2017. "Ethnic Discrimination on an Online Marketplace of Vacation Rental," Working Papers hal-01514713, HAL.
    4. David Schüller & Thorsten Upmann, 2013. "When Focal Points are Out of Focus: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Come Dine with Me," CESifo Working Paper Series 4138, CESifo.
    5. Schüller, David & Tauchmann, Harald & Upmann, Thorsten & Weimar, Daniel, 2014. "Pro-social behavior in the TV show “Come Dine With Me”: An empirical investigation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 44-55.
    6. Tom Lane, 2020. "Along which identity lines does 21st-century Britain divide? Evidence from Big Brother," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(2), pages 197-222, May.
    7. Jasmin Droege, 2019. "First Impression Biases in the Performing Arts: Taste-Based Discrimination and the Value of Blind Auditioning," Economics Series Working Papers 892, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    8. Michał Krawczyk & Natalia Starzykowska, 2017. "Belief-based and taste-based gender discrimination. Evidence from a game show," Working Papers 2017-15, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Statistical discrimination; Racial prejudice; Inaccurate stereotypes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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