Cultural Assimilation and Ethnic Discrimination: An Audit Study with Schools

•I conduct a large audit study in the Community of Madrid (Spain) to measure discrimination in schools by sending out 2500+ emails and by varying families’ ethnic origin and cultural assimilation through parents’ decision of giving their child a native name.•Families whose members have Romanian names are 12 % (9 p.p.) less likely to receive a response than native Spanish-named families.•Romanian families who gave a Spanish name to their child receive 7 % (5 p.p.) more responses than those who selected a Romanian name.•I find that these patterns are consistent across schools with differing characteristics. In a field experiment, I test whether the cultural assimilation of immigrant families mitigates the discriminatory behavior of schools. To this end, I sent fictitious visit requests to more than 2,500 schools located in the Community of Madrid (Spain). I signaled cultural assimilation of immigrant families through the parents' decision of giving their child a native name. Overall, Romanian families who gave a Spanish name to their child receive 7 % (5 p.p.) more responses than those who selected a Romanian name. Emails from families whose members have Romanian names are 12 % (9 p.p.) less likely to receive a response than those from native Spanish-named families. The results show a consistent pattern across schools with differing characteristics.