Can the sound of an accent change how individuals interact with others? To study this question, we conduct conjoint experiments embedded in an online survey with 6,000 respondents in Colombia. We present pairs of hypothetical individuals along with audios featuring voices with accents corresponding to different socio-economic groups. Respondents are also provided information about each profile’s income, education, and other attributes. We document
the presence of an “accent premium,” whereby respondents prefer profiles with high-class accents over those with lower-class accents in everyday and work-related interactions. We further show that these effects are not driven by individuals’ income, education, or personality traits. Importantly, the accent premium is not observed when the audios feature high-class foreign accents. Additionally, we find that class-based accents have downstream effects: they increase individuals’ concerns about inequality, especially among respondents with low socioeconomic status, and lead to lower interpersonal trust. Overall, our findings suggest that accents exacerbate the barriers individuals of lower socio-economic status face, impacting their success. Our paper has broad policy implications for addressing inequality and improving citizens’ prospects for social mobility.