Essays in the economic analysis of ethnic minorities, education policy and immigration

This dissertation is composed of three independent essays that examine how identity, institutions, and demography interact to affect integration and social inclusion in multicultural settings. Chapter~\ref{Chapter1} and Chapter~\ref{Chapter2} consider educational institutions. Specifically, Chapter~\ref{Chapter1} provides the first empirical investigation on the effects of female leadership on ethnic segregation in public education. Exploiting close mixed-gender races in democratically elected school district boards in California, Regression Discontinuity (RD) design estimates indicate that increased female representation leads to a statistically significant reduction in Theil’s~H, a multi-group segregation measure capturing how unevenly ethnic groups are distributed across schools within a district. The estimated effect corresponds to a 13\% decrease relative to the mean Theil’s~H. Given the central role of ethnic segregation in shaping socio-economic inequality, these results suggest that improving representation for one historically underrepresented group can generate broader social benefits that extend beyond that group’s own identity. Chapter~\ref{Chapter2} examines the consequences of a policy banning visible religious symbols in public schools in Belgium. We particularly focus on the potential impacts of the policy on female students from Muslim-majority countries, a group for
whom wearing the hijab is common. Difference-in-Differences and Triple Difference estimates indicate negligible and statistically insignificant effects on
academic performance, as assessed through Math, Science, and Dutch language test
scores. In contrast, we detect a significant decrease in self-reported socio-emotional well-being of these students. This decline is characterized by increased loneliness, awkwardness, and a decreased sense of belonging to the school environment. These findings highlight the psychological costs of institutional neutrality when implemented through blanket restrictions on identity expression. Chapter~\ref{Chapter3} investigates the determinants of attitudes toward immigration in Luxembourg, a country with one of the highest shares of foreign-background residents worldwide. By linking individual survey data with administrative records, we can observe population counts living around the survey respondents and measure their neighborhood composition at a highly granular level. The analysis shows that a large majority of respondents view immigration as enriching national identity and contributing positively to the economy. Pro-immigration attitudes are more prevalent among younger, more educated individuals and especially among first- and second-generation immigrants. While the local immigrant share does not significantly affect perceptions of immigration’s economic or cultural impact, it does influence views on the desirable level of immigration. These results are driven by recent non-European inflows, pointing to a gradual process of adaptation to diversity and multiculturalism.