Full Citation

Title: Statistical discrimination or prejudice? A large sample field experiment

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2014

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Abstract: A model of racial discrimination provides testable implications for two features of statistical discriminators: differential treatment of signals by race and heterogeneous experience that shapes perception. We construct an experiment in the U.S. rental apartment market that distinguishes statistical discrimination from taste-based discrimination. Responses from over 14,000 rental inquiries with varying applicant quality show that landlords treat identical information from applicants with African American and white-sounding names differently. This differential treatment varies by neighborhood racial composition and signal type in a manner consistent with statistical discrimination and in contrast to patterns predicted by a model of taste-based discrimination.

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Authors: Ewens, Michael; Tomlin, Bryan; Liang, Choon Wang

Periodical (Full): Review of Economics and Statistics

Issue: 1

Volume: 96

Pages: 119-134

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Housing and Segregation, Race and Ethnicity

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