Inequality, Fairness, and Growth: Preferences for Charitable Contributions in Gentrifying Schools

In this project, we will conduct a series of survey experiments to understand the preferences of parents for a set of hypothetical scenarios related to charitable contributions in recently gentrified (diversified) school settings. Specifically, we ask parents to consider a scenario in which higher-income white families have recently moved into a historically lower-income racial/ethnic minority school and successfully raised funds via private charitable contributions. The intended use of these funds is to provide services to the school that would largely benefit the  higher-income white students. Research questions include: (1) how do the preferences of white and minority parents of school-age children differ? (2) how much resource inequality are parents willing to tolerate if it increases overall resource availability? (3) do preferences for resource inequality change if the process is modulated (e.g., if the fund raising is directed through the parent teacher association)?

Required Skills

Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. It would be great if student had experience with Qualtrics, but Dr. Shores will provide training if necessary.