The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 105 No. 4 2023

Discrimination, Narratives, and Family History: An Experiment with Jordanian Host and Syrian Refugee Children

Kai Barron¹; Heike Harmgart²; Steffen Huck³; Sebastian O. Schneider⁴; Matthias Sutter⁵

¹ WZB Berlin · ² European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and WZB Berlin · ³ University College London and WZB Berlin · ⁴ Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods · ⁵ Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, University of Cologne, and University of Innsbruck

Abstract

We measure the prevalence of discrimination between Jordanian host and Syrian refugee children attending school in Jordan. Using a simple sharing experiment, we find only a small degree of out-group discrimination. However, Jordanian children with Palestinian roots do not discriminate at all, suggesting that a family history of refugee status can generate solidarity with new refugees. We also find that parents’ narratives about the refugee crisis are correlated with their children's degree of out-group discrimination, particularly among Syrian refugee children, suggesting that discriminatory preferences are being transmitted through parental attitudes.

DOI

10.1162/rest_a_01090

Volume

105

Issue

4

Pages

1008-1016

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓