Fighting discrimination is a major challenge in today’s evolving societies. In most countries, discrimination because of gender, race, or religion is prohibited and societies try to reduce it. Still, discrimination is remarkably persistent. Research continuously shows racial and ethnic discrimination in different settings; for example, when looking for a job, looking for an apartment , using the sharing economy, joining an amateur football club, contacting public officials, and dating.
In this study, we contribute to the literature with three simultaneous large-scale natural field experiments in amateur football, the housing market, and the labor market in Italy. We sent applications to some 1600 amateur football clubs, 4000 landlords, and 4000 employers in Italy. Finding a job or an apartment is vital for integration. As such, correspondence studies often focus on the labor and housing markets. Other daily contexts reflect a different type of interaction. We analyze amateur football clubs since amateur team sports cover all aspects of social interaction and positively influence social cohesion.
Although it is impossible to examine antisemitism from every angle, the three different areas provide us with a more comprehensive overview about the social effects of being Jewish in Italy. Examining only one area neglects that people behave and evaluate situations differently. For example, an employer evaluates an application differently compared to a landlord or an amateur football coach. They have different demands and priorities, and therefore may respond to an application from an Italian Jew differently. Additionally, these areas have different regulatory frameworks, and social norms and peer effects can differ because of the idiosyncrasies of the selection processes.
Interestingly, the results show remarkably uneven discrimination between the three experiments. We do not find statistically significant discrimination in the labor market experiment. In the other two experiments, however, we find substantial discrimination against people with Italian Jewish-sounding names. Additionally, we find that female applicants with Italian Jewish-sounding names benefit from reverse discrimination in places that were close to deportations or killings in World War II.
