Interaction, stereotypes and performance. Evidence from South Africa

Lucia Corno, Eliana La Ferrara and Justine Burns
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Eliana La Ferrara: Institute for Fiscal Studies and Bocconi University
Justine Burns: Institute for Fiscal Studies

No W19/03, IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies

Abstract: We exploit a policy designed to randomly allocate roommates in a large South African university to investigate whether inter-racial interaction affects stereotypes, attitudes and performance. Using Implicit Association Tests, we find that living with a roommate of a different race reduces white students? negative stereotypes towards blacks and increases inter-racial friendships. Interaction also affects academic outcomes: blacks in mixed rooms improve their GPA, pass more exams and have lower dropout rates. This positive effect is not driven by the ability of the roommate and is stronger the lower the roommate?s prejudice, suggesting a complementarity between stereotype reduction and performance gains.

Keywords: stereotype reduction; performance gains (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-01-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (67)

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Journal Article: Interaction, Stereotypes, and Performance: Evidence from South Africa (2022)
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