Abstract:

Scapegoating -- attributing inordinate blame for a negative outcome to a target individual or group -- is considered an important driver of discrimination by psychologists, but has received little attention by economists. This paper helps fill the gap by providing evidence for scapegoating in a natural setting. Using data on three million driving tests held in Israel, I find that an increase in the number of unrelated traffic accident fatalities leads driving testers to discriminate against out-group students. Scapegoating characterizes all groups of testers -- Jewish and Arab, male and female -- and works to increase ethnic in-group bias and decrease gender out-group bias.