Games of prejudice - experiments with adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents represent the future and have the potential for bringing in positive social change. However, they might also nurture anti-social behavior which can have dire consequences for the future of society. This paper uses a framed labor market experiment to examine the prevalence and underlying causes of discriminatory behavior among Slovak adolescents towards minority members in Slovakia. We elicit discrimination in hiring decisions (extensive margin) as well as in wage offer decisions (intensive margin). Our analysis reveals that the observed discriminatory behavior at both margins stems largely from taste-based animosity and not due to inaccurate beliefs about the productivity of minority employees. Further, results indicate that discrimination at the extensive margin vanishes with even a small cost. At the intensive margin, discrimination persists even with substantial costs and only a prohibitively high cost makes it disappear.