Wait! Before you run to yor astrologer to check if you need an extra r, z, a, or maybe another name entirely; read this out fully! Stockholm University researchers have reason to believe that changing your name can help you rake in a lot of money!
Study authors Mahmood Arai and Peter Skogman Thoursie have found that immigrants to Sweden earned more money after they change their foreign-sounding names.They found that earnings increased by 141 percent for a sample of African, Asian and Slavic immigrants who changed their names to be ethnically neutral or a bit more Swedish-sounding.
"[W]e believe [the name change effect] stems largely from improving one's chances of being called to a job interview and thus increasing employment probabilities," the authors write.
"Employers might sort out the applicants with foreign-sounding names due to [notions] about abilities and characteristics assumed to be associated with such names," they added.
Arai and Skogman Thoursie used a sample of 641 immigrants who registered a name-change with the Swedish government between 1991 and 2000.
They analyzed earnings in the three years before and three years after a name change.
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The analysis showed that the increase in earnings generally occurred the year after a name change became final.
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The study is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Labor Economics.
Source-ANI
TAN/L