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American Economic Review Vol. 101 No. 3 2011

The Roma/Non-Roma Test Score Gap in Hungary

Gábor Kertesi1; Gábor Kézdi2

1 Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budaorsi ut 45, 1112 Budapest, Hungary. · 2 Department of Economics, Central European University and IEHAS, Nador utca 9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary.

Abstract

This paper documents and decomposes the test score gap between Roma and non-Roma 8th graders in Hungary in 2006. Our data connect national standardized test scores to an individual panel survey with detailed data on ethnicity and family background. The test score gap is approximately one standard deviation for both reading and mathematics, which is similar to the gap between African-American and White students of the same age group in the US in the 1980s. After accounting for on health, parenting, school fixed effects and family background, the gap disappears in reading and drops to 0.15 standard deviation in mathematics.

DOI
10.1257/aer.101.3.519
Volume
101
Issue
3
Pages
519-525
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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