Can Information Reduce Ethnic Discrimination? Evidence from Airbnb

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Laouenan, Morgane; Rathelot, Roland
• 署名单位: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); University of Warwick; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20190188
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 107-132
• 关键词: labor-market; field experiment; online market; PREJUDICE; LESSONS

摘要

We use data from Airbnb to identify the mechanisms underlying discrimination against ethnic minority hosts. Within the same neighborhood, hosts from minority groups charge 3.2 percent less for comparable listings. Since ratings provide guests with increasingly rich information about a listing's quality, we can measure the contribution of statistical discrimination, building upon Altonji and Pierret (2001). We find that statistical discrimination can account for the whole ethnic price gap: ethnic gaps would disappear if all unobservables were revealed. Also, three-quarters (2.5 points) of the initial ethnic gap can be attributed to inaccurate beliefs of potential guests about hosts' average group quality. (JEL D83, J15, L84)