By Stéphane Carcillo, Marie-Anne Valfort, Pedro Vergara Merino
This paper presents the first rigorous evaluation of school-based interventions aimed at reducing LGBTphobia. We focus on a classroom intervention that addresses the issue of LGBT harassment through perspective-taking and narrative exchange. Using a field experiment in France with more than 10,000 middle and high school students, we find robust evidence of strong positive effects, with variations across gender, age, and socio-economic status. We argue that changing perceptions of group norms is a key channel driving these heterogeneous effects.
IZA DP No. 17683, Bonn: IZA – Institute of Labor Economics , 2025. 65p