Discrimination at young age: Experimental evidence from preschool children

Parampreet Christopher Bindra, Daniela Glätzle-Rützler and Philipp Lergetporer

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2020, vol. 175, issue C, 55-70

Abstract: Discrimination is an ubiquitous phenomenon in many societies, but little is known about its origins in childhood. In a framed field experiment, we let 142 three to six-year old preschool children allocate a fixed endowment between an in-group and an out-group receiver in two domains (gender and preschool group affiliation). Discrimination is prevalent in our subjects, since they allocate more than half of their endowment to the in-group. The extent of discrimination is similar in both domains, suggesting that it is a universal, as opposed to a domain-specific, trait. Analyzing age dynamics, discrimination tends to get stronger with age.

Keywords: Discrimination; Children; Experiment; Fairness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C93 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Working Paper: Discrimination at Young Age: Experimental Evidence from Preschool Children (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:175:y:2020:i:c:p:55-70

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.12.026

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