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Do Real Estate Brokers Choose to Discriminate? Evidence from the 1989 Housing Discrimination Study

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  • Jan Ondrich
  • Alex Stricker
  • John Yinger

Abstract

Discrimination is systematic unfavorable treatment based solely on group membership. This study focuses on racial and ethnic discrimination in qualitative actions by real estate brokers, such as showing an advertised house, based on 2000 audits conducted in 1989. Each audit consists of a visit to a broker by a white person and a black or Hispanic person with equal qualifications. The audit data are used to measure the incidence of discrimination and to test hypotheses about its causes. The results reveal widespread discrimination and indicate that brokers discriminate based on personal prejudice and the prejudice of white clients.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Ondrich & Alex Stricker & John Yinger, 1998. "Do Real Estate Brokers Choose to Discriminate? Evidence from the 1989 Housing Discrimination Study," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 880-901, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:64:y:1998:i:4:p:880-901
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.1998.tb00109.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Yinger, John, 1986. "Measuring Racial Discrimination with Fair Housing Audits: Caught in the Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 881-893, December.
    9. Page Marianne, 1995. "Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets: Evidence from a Recent Audit Study," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 183-206, September.
    10. Canopy Roychoudhury & Allen C. Goodman, 1996. "Evidence of Racial Discrimination in Different Dimensions of Owner‐Occupied Housing Search," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 161-178.
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    2. Chan, Eric W. & Fan, Yulian, 2023. "Housing discrimination in the low-income context: Evidence from a correspondence experiment," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(PA).
    3. John D. Benjamin & G. Donald Jud & G. Stacy Sirmans, 2000. "What Do We Know About Real Estate Brokerage?," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 5-30.
    4. Andrew Hanson & Zackary Hawley, 2023. "Restricted access: Real estate agent response to client race, ethnicity, gender, and side of market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(4), pages 855-890, July.
    5. Natalya Bikmetova & Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Velma Zahirovic‐Herbert, 2023. "Ethnicity in housing markets: Buyers, sellers and agents," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(1), pages 196-232, January.
    6. Andrew Hanson & Michael Santas, 2014. "Field Experiment Tests for Discrimination against Hispanics in the U.S. Rental Housing Market," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(1), pages 135-167, July.
    7. Moritz, Raphael & Manger, Christian, 2022. "Somebody that I want to know: The non-monotonic effect of personality information on ethnic and gender discrimination in the market for shared housing," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. William A. Darity, 1998. "Intergroup Disparity: Economic Theory and Social Science Evidence," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 805-826, April.

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