Michela Carlana (Workshop in Applied Statistics)

Today's Speaker

Michela Carlana (Harvard Kennedy School), "Revealing Stereotypes: Evidence from Immigrants in Schools"

Abstract

We study how people change their behavior after learning they are biased. Teachers in Italian schools give lower grades to immigrant students relative to natives with comparable ability. In two experiments, we reveal to teachers their own bias, measured by an Implicit Association Test (IAT). Randomizing the timing of disclosure, we find that learning one’s IAT before deciding end-of-term grades reduces the native-immigrant gap in grades. IAT disclosure and generic debiasing have similar average effects, but there is heterogeneity: teachers with more negative stereotypes do not respond to generic debiasing but change their behavior when informed about their own IAT.

The Applied Statistics Workshop (Gov 3009) meets all academic year, Wednesdays, 12pm-1:30pm, in CGIS K354. This workshop is a forum for advanced graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present and discuss methodological or empirical work in progress in an interdisciplinary setting. The workshop features a tour of Harvard's statistical innovations and applications with weekly stops in different fields and disciplines and includes occasional presentations by invited speakers.

More information is available at the Gov 3009 website: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/applied.stats.workshop-gov3009

All interested Harvard affiliates are invited to attend.