HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AND THE TOXICS EXPOSURE GAP IN THE UNITED STATES: EVIDENCE FROM THE RENTAL MARKET

Peter Christensen; Ignacio Sarmiento-Barbieri; Christopher Timmins

doi:10.1162/rest_a_00992

HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AND THE TOXICS EXPOSURE GAP IN THE UNITED STATES: EVIDENCE FROM THE RENTAL MARKET

Peter Christensen, Ignacio Sarmiento-Barbieri, Christopher Timmins

Universidad de los Andes

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Local pollution exposures have a disproportionate impact on minority households, but the root causes remain unclear. This study conducts a correspondence experiment on a major online housing platform to test whether housing discrimination constrains minority access to housing options in markets with significant sources of airborne chemical toxics. We find that renters with African American or Hispanic/Latinx names are 41% less likely than renters with white names to receive responses for properties in low-exposure locations. We find no evidence of discriminatory constraints in high-exposure locations, indicating that discrimination increases relative access to housing choices at elevated exposure risk.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	807-818
Number of pages	12
Journal	Review of Economics and Statistics
Volume	104
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00992
State	Published - 1 Jul 2022

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© 2020 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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abstract = "Local pollution exposures have a disproportionate impact on minority households, but the root causes remain unclear. This study conducts a correspondence experiment on a major online housing platform to test whether housing discrimination constrains minority access to housing options in markets with significant sources of airborne chemical toxics. We find that renters with African American or Hispanic/Latinx names are 41\% less likely than renters with white names to receive responses for properties in low-exposure locations. We find no evidence of discriminatory constraints in high-exposure locations, indicating that discrimination increases relative access to housing choices at elevated exposure risk.",

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AB - Local pollution exposures have a disproportionate impact on minority households, but the root causes remain unclear. This study conducts a correspondence experiment on a major online housing platform to test whether housing discrimination constrains minority access to housing options in markets with significant sources of airborne chemical toxics. We find that renters with African American or Hispanic/Latinx names are 41% less likely than renters with white names to receive responses for properties in low-exposure locations. We find no evidence of discriminatory constraints in high-exposure locations, indicating that discrimination increases relative access to housing choices at elevated exposure risk.

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HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AND THE TOXICS EXPOSURE GAP IN THE UNITED STATES: EVIDENCE FROM THE RENTAL MARKET

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