Beliefs about Racial Discrimination

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Principal investigators:

Ingar Haaland

University of Bergen

Email: ingar.haaland@gmail.com

Homepage: https://sites.google.com/site/ingarhaaland/

Christopher Roth

University of Warwick

Email: Christopher.Roth@warwick.ac.uk

Homepage: https://sites.google.com/site/chrisrotheconomics


Sample size: 1542

Field period: 05/08/2017-07/11/2017

Abstract
This paper provides representative evidence on beliefs about racial discrimination and examines whether information causally affects support for pro-black policies. Eliciting quantitative beliefs about the extent of hiring discrimination against blacks, we uncover large disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination with particularly pronounced partisan differences. An information treatment leads to a convergence in beliefs about racial discrimination but does not lead to a similar convergence in support of pro-black policies. The results demonstrate that while providing information can substantially reduce disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination, it is not sufficient to reduce disagreement about pro-black policies.
Hypotheses
1. How large is the disagreement in beliefs about the extent of racial discrimination in hiring?
2. Does the provision of research evidence about the extent of racial discrimination in hiring reduce the disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination?
3. Does a convergence in beliefs about the extent of racial discrimination lead to a similar convergence in support for pro-black policies?
Experimental Manipulations
Treated respondents are assigned an information treatment about racial discrimination in hiring. Specifically, they receive the following information:
"For your information, the study found that white-sounding names received 50 percent more callbacks for interviews than black-sounding names."
Outcomes
1. Donations to a pro-black civil rights organizations (elicited in a multiple price format where respondents could choose between $5 to the organization varying amounts of money for themselves).
2. Support for black preference in hiring
3. Support for job assistance for blacks
4. Support for name-blind screening
5. Beliefs about racial discrimination in housing
Summary of Results
Our first finding is that there is substantial disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination against blacks. We find particularly pronounced differences in beliefs based on people's self-identified party affiliation: Relative to Republicans, Democrats think that blacks have to send out 47 percent more resumes than whites to receive a callback. Second, our respondents strongly update their beliefs in response to research evidence from a correspondence study, substantially reducing disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination. Third, we find a muted response of the information on people's support for pro-black policies, demonstrating that a strong convergence in beliefs about racial discrimination does not necessarily lead to a convergence in policy views.
Additional Information
The paper is accepted for publication in The Review of Economics and Statistics.
References
https://www.cesifo.org/en/publikationen/2019/working-paper/beliefs-about-racial-discrimination-and-support-pro-black-policies