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Free keywords:
Discrimination, Inter-group contact, Trust, Identity, Study abroad
Abstract:
Every year, millions of people relocate to a foreign country for school or
work. This paper provides evidence of how international experience shifts
preferences and stereotypes related to other nationalities. I use participation
in the Erasmus study abroad program to identify the eect of international
experience: students who are ready to participate in the Erasmus program
are chosen as a control group for students who have returned from studies
abroad. Individuals make decisions in a Trust Game and in a Triple Dictator
Game. Results show that while students do not dierentiate between partners
from Northern and Southern Europe in the Trust Game prior to an Erasmus
study abroad, students who have returned from Erasmus exhibit less trust
towards partners from the South. Behavior towards other nationalities in the
Triple Dictator Game is not aected by the Erasmus study experience. Over-
all, the results suggest that participants learn about cross-country variation
in cooperative behavior while abroad and therefore statistical discrimination
increases with international experience.
