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Cooperation and Discrimination Within and Across Language Borders: Evidence from Children in a Bilingual City

Author

Listed:
  • Angerer, Silvia
  • Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela

    (University of Innsbruck)

  • Lergetporer, Philipp

    (Technical University of Munich)

  • Sutter, Matthias

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods)

Abstract

We present experimental evidence from a bilingual city in Northern Italy on whether the language spoken by a partner in a prisoner's dilemma game affects behavior and leads to discrimination. Running a framed field experiment with 828 six- to eleven-year old primary school children in the city of Meran, we find that cooperation generally increases with age, but that the gap between cooperation among in-group members and cooperation towards children speaking another language is considerable and increasing with age. This gap is due to both, in-group favoritism and language group discrimination.

Suggested Citation

  • Angerer, Silvia & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp & Sutter, Matthias, 2015. "Cooperation and Discrimination Within and Across Language Borders: Evidence from Children in a Bilingual City," IZA Discussion Papers 9039, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9039
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    language; discrimination; cooperation; children; experiment;
    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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