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Ethnic Discrimination in High School Grading: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Hinnerich, Björn Tyrefors

    (Stockholm University)

  • Höglin, Erik

    (Swedish Fiscal Policy Council)

  • Johannesson, Magnus

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)

Abstract

We rigorously test for ethnic discrimination in high school grading in Sweden. A random sample of the national tests in the Swedish language is graded both non-blind by the student’s own teacher and blind without any identifying information. The increase in the test score due to non-blind grading is significantly higher for students with Swedish background compared to students with foreign background. This discrimination effect is sizeable, and explains the entire difference in test scores between students with Swedish and foreign background.

Suggested Citation

  • Hinnerich, Björn Tyrefors & Höglin, Erik & Johannesson, Magnus, 2011. "Ethnic Discrimination in High School Grading: Evidence from a Field Experiment," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 733, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 27 Jun 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:hastef:0733
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ouazad, Amine & Page, Lionel, 2013. "Students' perceptions of teacher biases: Experimental economics in schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 116-130.
    2. David Kiss, 2013. "Are immigrants and girls graded worse? Results of a matching approach," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 447-463, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; Field experiments; Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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