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American Economic Review Vol. 114 No. 7 2024

Revealing Stereotypes: Evidence from Immigrants in Schools

Alberto Alesina1; Michela Carlana2; Eliana La Ferrara3; Paolo Pinotti4

1 Harvard University, IGIER, NBER, and CEPR · 2 Harvard Kennedy School, IZA, LEAP, NBER, and CEPR (email: ) · 3 Harvard Kennedy School, LEAP, NBER, and CEPR (email: ) · 4 Bocconi University, DONDENA, CReAM, and CEPR (email: )

Abstract

We study how people change their behavior after being made aware of bias. Teachers in Italian schools give lower grades to immigrant students relative to natives of comparable ability. In two experiments, we reveal to teachers their own stereotypes, measured by an Implicit Association Test (IAT). In the first, we find that learning one’s IAT before assigning grades reduces the native-immigrant grade gap. In the second, IAT disclosure and generic debiasing have similar average effects, but there is heterogeneity: teachers with stronger negative stereotypes do not respond to generic debiasing but change their behavior when informed about their own IAT.

DOI
10.1257/aer.20191184
Volume
114
Issue
7
Pages
1916-1948
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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