Migration and sources of discrimination in a social context: Experimental evidence from 15 Latin American countries

Abstract

This paper considers two types of statistical discrimination: individual (productivity) and compositional (team fit). We conduct a large-scale correspondence study in 15 Latin American countries in the context of sports to test their influence on individual behavior. We send over 10,000 applications to male amateur soccer clubs and ask them to participate in a practice session. Each club receives one application, randomly varying the applicant's origin and signals about individual and compositional productivity. We find no evidence of discrimination against immigrants overall, but we observe heterogeneity that is consistent with individual statistical discrimination. Productivity signals have no significant influence.