Education Economics

Do Schools Discriminate against Children with Disabilities? A Field Experiment in Sweden

Journal Article
Reference
Ahmed, Ali, Mats Hammarstedt and Karl Karlsson (2021). “Do Schools Discriminate against Children with Disabilities? A Field Experiment in Sweden”. Education Economics 29(1), 3–16. doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2020.1855417

Authors
Ali Ahmed, Mats Hammarstedt, Karl Karlsson

This article presents the results of a field experiment in which fictitious parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) sent inquiries to schools in Sweden about admission of their children to the mandatory preschool class. Results show that inquiries concerning a child with no medical condition were more likely to receive an invitation for a visit and more likely to receive a promising placement response than inquiries concerning a child with ADHD and T1DM. Discrimination was more prominent in the private sector and when the child was a boy or had ADHD.

 

Mats Hammarstedt

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