Rich students who have poor classmates become (i) more prosocial, generous, and egalitarian; and (ii) less likely to discriminate against poor students, and more willing to socialize with them. These effects are driven by personal interactions between rich and poor students.

Authored by aeaweb.org and submitted by smurfyjenkins

Abstract I exploit a natural experiment in Indian schools to study how being integrated with poor students affects the social behaviors and academic outcomes of rich students. Using administrative data, lab and field experiments to measure outcomes, I find that having poor classmates makes rich students (i) more prosocial, generous, and egalitarian; and (ii) less likely to discriminate against poor students, and more willing to socialize with them. These effects are driven by personal interactions between rich and poor students. In contrast, I find mixed but overall modest impacts on rich students' academic achievement.

Citation Rao, Gautam. 2019. "Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt: Generosity, Discrimination, and Diversity in Delhi Schools." American Economic Review , 109 (3): 774-809 . DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180044 Choose Format: BibTeX EndNote Refer/BibIX RIS Tab-Delimited

Radarker on March 1st, 2019 at 11:19 UTC »

I would be curious to know if this study was conducted in settings where a majority wealthy group had an occasional poor students introduced. Or if it was done in more of a community College setting with a majority poor and the occasional wealthy student.

logicalandwitty on March 1st, 2019 at 11:16 UTC »

I dont think this is exclusive to rich/poor imo. You become influenced by whoever surrounds you as time goes by. You start behaving more and more like the people around you.

Musicman1972 on March 1st, 2019 at 10:21 UTC »

The enemy of ignorance is experience.