Sarah Carol (University of Cologne)

“Ethnic and Religious Discrimination in the Wedding Venue Business: Evidence from Two Field Experiments in Germany and Austria”

 Aula lignea

Abstract

Various studies have investigated the discrimination of ethnic minorities on the labour and rental market, in the education system as well as in public administrations. While many of these studies found support for discrimination, we know little about the following question: To what extent is discrimination based on religious or ethnic grounds, or do the two maybe even reinforce each other? This study tries to disentangle religious and ethnic discrimination using two field experiments in the wedding venue businesses in Germany and Austria. Overall, 400 valid emails were sent out to German venues and 470 were sent to wedding venues in Austria. We randomly varied two traits (ethnic names and whether the wedding is religious or not). Our analyses of the experiments show that couples with Arabic names receive significantly less confirmations compared to couples with native names. However, the effect of religion varies across the two countries. We conclude by considering how characteristics of the venue (e.g., venue size and location) might moderate these results.

Sarah Carol is applying for the Assistant Professorship in Sociology.