Linguistic diversity and out-group discrimination in bilingual societies

We study ethno-linguistic diversity in a lab-in-the-field experiment in two bilingual societies, with (Bilbao, in the North of Spain) and without group conflict (Valencia, in the East). Participants from two ethno-linguistic cultures interact with other participants in Homogeneous (no diversity) or...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Paz Espinosa, María, Fatás, Enrique, Úbeda Molla, Paloma
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repositorio:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/11848
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/11848
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Natural identity
Ethno-linguistic groups
Discrimination
Lab-in-the-field experiment
Group conflict
Descripción
Sumario:We study ethno-linguistic diversity in a lab-in-the-field experiment in two bilingual societies, with (Bilbao, in the North of Spain) and without group conflict (Valencia, in the East). Participants from two ethno-linguistic cultures interact with other participants in Homogeneous (no diversity) or Mixed (ethno-linguistic diversity) environments. Participants allocate resources in a nested public goods game with a local and a global public good. By design, by not contributing to the global (and efficient) public good participants exclude the out- group from the benefits of their contribution. Our results show that while diversity reduces contributions to the global public good in Bilbao, it does not have a negative effect in Valencia. We interpret the results with a second experiment eliciting social norms, with different subjects, and find that the positive (negative) effects of diversity in Valencia (Bilbao) are linked to optimistic empirical expectations (normative discrimination). We also show how the prevalence of discriminatory norms is sensitive to additional information about behavior.