Types of Contact: A Field Experiment on Collaborative and Adversarial Caste Integration
American Economic Review · 2021 · Volume 111 · Issue 6
Abstract
I estimate the effects of collaborative and adversarial intergroup contact. I randomly assigned Indian men from different castes to participate in cricket leagues or to serve as a control group. League players faced variation in collaborative contact, through random assignment to homogeneous-caste or mixed-caste teams, and adversarial contact, through random assignment of opponents. Collaborative contact increases cross-caste friendships and efficiency in trade, and reduces own-caste favoritism. In contrast, adversarial contact generally reduces cross-caste interaction and efficiency. League participation reduces intergroup differences, suggesting that the positive aspects of intergroup contact more than offset the negative aspects in this setting.
Keywords
Field Experiments, Search, Learning, Information and Knowledge, Communication, Belief, Unawareness, Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making, Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants, Non-labor Discrimination, Economic Development: Human Resources, Human Development, Income Distribution, Migration, Economic Sociology, Economic Anthropology, Language, Social and Economic Stratification, Sports Economics: Industry Studies
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