Keywords: Political behavior, participation and culture

Ethnic inequality persists in most Western countries. In Israel, where half the population is Sephardic - Jews from Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East and their descendants - they are underrepresented in managerial positions and politics, where Ashkenazi Jews - Jews from Europe, North and South America and their descendants – dominate these fields. Similarly, Roma People in the Czech Republic experience the same fate in comparison to non-Roma Czechs. Using a survey experiment we utilize an identical resume where we only manipulate the name (Ashkenazi-Sepharadi sounding mane or Roma-non-Roma sounding name) and image of a person (Western/lighter-Eastern/darker), position (candidate for office or manager), both in Israel and the Czech Republic (2X2X2X2). Preliminary results from the Israeli case indicate that when it comes to discrimination individuals' name and appearance amplify the discriminatory magnitude, as reflected in the decision to select or hire an individual, the traits associated to that person and even the entry salary that person will earn if hired. Our analysis suggests that both social proximity and statistical discrimination are to blame for this discrimination.