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Housing Discrimination and the Toxics Exposure Gap in the United States: Evidence from the Rental Market

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  • Peter Christensen
  • Ignacio Sarmiento-Barbieri
  • Christopher Timmins

Abstract

Local pollution exposures disproportionately impact 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Christensen & Ignacio Sarmiento-Barbieri & Christopher Timmins, 2020. "Housing Discrimination and the Toxics Exposure Gap in the United States: Evidence from the Rental Market," NBER Working Papers 26805, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26805
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    Cited by:

    1. Ingrid Gould Ellen, 2024. "Neighborhoods in the 21st century: What do we know, and what do we still have to learn?: AREUEA Presidential Address," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 52(4), pages 997-1019, July.
    2. Lepinteur, Anthony & Menta, Giorgia & Waltl, Sofie R., 2025. "Equal price for equal place? Demand-driven racial discrimination in the housing market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Melstrom, Richard T., 2022. "Residential demand for sediment remediation to restore water quality: Evidence from Milwaukee," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    4. Chen, Ruoyu & Jiang, Hanchen & Quintero, Luis E., 2023. "Measuring the value of rent stabilization and understanding its implications for racial inequality: Evidence from New York City," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Gaddis, S. Michael & Quadlin, Natasha & Larsen, Edvard Nergård & Crabtree, Charles & Holbein, John B., 2025. "Missing Results of Discrimination: A Systematically Comparative Meta-Analysis and Re-Examinations of Racial, Gender, and Intersectional Discrimination using Correspondence Audits," SocArXiv nd2y6_v1, Center for Open Science.
    6. Atsushi Yamagishi & Yasuhiro Sato, 2022. "Measuring Discrimination in Spatial Equilibrium: 100 Years of Japan's Invisible Race," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1188, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    7. Hector Blanco & Jaehee Song, 2025. "Discrimination Against Housing Vouchers: Evidence from Online Rental Listings," CESifo Working Paper Series 11920, CESifo.
    8. Camille Salesse, 2022. "Inequality in exposure to air pollution in France: bringing pollutant cocktails into the picture," CEE-M Working Papers hal-03882438, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    9. Joshua S. Graff Zivin & Gregor Singer, 2022. "Disparities in Pollution Capitalization Rates: The Role of Direct and Systemic Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 30814, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Fesko, Luke, 2023. "First lead, now no bed? The unintended impacts of lead abatement laws on eviction," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    11. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Mathes, Sophie M., 2024. "Residential sorting, local environments, and human capital," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    12. König, Christian & Salomo, Katja & Helbig, Marcel, 2024. "Understanding Variation in Neighbourhood Environmental Inequalities: The Influence of Residential Segregation, Gentrification, and other City-Level Factors," SocArXiv j4tf2, Center for Open Science.
    13. Ranie Lin & Lala Ma & Toan Phan, 2021. "Race and Environmental Worries," Working Paper 21-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    14. Lucas Cain & Danae Hernandez-Cortes & Christopher Timmins & Paige Weber, 2023. "Recent Findings and Methodologies in Economics Research in Environmental Justice," CESifo Working Paper Series 10283, CESifo.
    15. Karen Clay & Danae Hernandez-Cortes & Akshaya Jha & Joshua Lewis & Noah Miller & Edson Severnini, 2025. "The Social Lifecycle Impacts of Power Plant Siting in the Historical United States," NBER Chapters, in: Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, volume 7, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. repec:osf:socarx:j4tf2_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Fraenkel, Rebecca & Krumholz, Sam, 2025. "Property taxation as compensation for local externalities: Evidence from large plants," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    18. Helen XH Bao, 2024. "Is hiding my first name enough? Using behavioural interventions to mitigate racial and gender discrimination in the rental housing market," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(11), pages 2156-2175, August.
    19. Liu, Lu & Meng, Lina & Zhang, Ruige, 2024. "Does Easy Accessibility to Urban Parks Always Raise Home Values?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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