The Rift

Chapter 4, the book’s first empirical chapter, introduces two lab-in-field experiments that form the core of the book’s data-gathering strategy. The first experiment uses the trust game and demonstrates that non-Roma from Novo mesto discriminate against the Roma in the context of single interactions. The second experiment uses an iterated public goods game, delivered in the form of an original tower-building videogame, developed to allow participants who cannot read to take part in the study and to capture repeated interactions in a context where face-to-face interactions might be contentious. It shows that non-Roma from Novo mesto discriminate against the Roma in the context of repeated interactions, even when Roma behaviors in the game are identical to non-Roma behaviors. This experiment also demonstrates that Roma from Novo mesto use survival strategies, but to a much lesser degree than stereotyping would lead one to expect.