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Housing market discrimination, housing regulations and intermediaries

Author

Listed:
  • Etienne Wasmer

    (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Housing and labor markets exhibit many similarities. First, information is imperfect. Tenant quality, like worker quality, is unobserved. Second, separation is costly and time consuming. The laws and regulation typically complicate or slow down the termination process of the contractual relationship and make it more costly for firms and landlords to fire an employee /evict a tenant. And finally, there are rigidities in nominal wages and rents. Adapting tools from labor theory, we attempt to understand how landlords wish to screen and possibly statistically discriminate against potential tenants. They do so when housing regulations are more stringent. If they have a "taste against discrimination" (the opposite of Becker's "taste for discrimination"), they are more likely to have recourse to agencies in order to outsource screening. Preliminary descriptive evidence of cross-country differences in housing regulations and housing market functioning is provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Etienne Wasmer, 2005. "Housing market discrimination, housing regulations and intermediaries," Post-Print hal-01053551, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01053551
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-01053551
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Read, Colin, 1993. "Tenants' search and vacancies in rental housing markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 171-183, April.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Pablo Casas-Arce & Albert Saiz, 2010. "Owning versus Renting: Do Courts Matter?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 137-165, February.

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