Better residential than ethnic discrimination! Reconciling audit and interview findings in the Parisian housing market

Abstract

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms AbstractThis article investigates discrimination and the interplay of residential and ethnic stigma on the French housing market using two different methods, paired-testing audit study of real estate agencies and face-to-face interviews with real estate agents. The juxtaposition of their findings leads to a paradox: interviews reveal high levels of ethnic discrimination but little to none residential discrimination, while the audit study shows that living in deprived suburbs is associated with a lower probability of obtaining an appointment for a housing vacancy but ethnic origin (signaled by the candidate's name) has no significant discriminatory effect. We have three priors potentially consistent with this apparent paradox and re-evaluate their likelihood in light of these findings: (i) agents make use of any statistical information about insolvency, including residency; (ii) there are two distinct and independent taste discriminations, one about space and one about ethnicity; (iii) these two dimensions exist and complement each other.

The ethnoracial context of residential mobility in France: Neighbourhood out‐migration and relocation

“…Extensive qualitative research now documents practices of exclusion and racial steering within public housing that channel non‐Europeans into the most disadvantaged parts of the sector (Bourgeois, ; Sala Pala, ; Simon, Kirszbaum, Chafi, & Tissot, ). Evidence from audit studies further shows that discrimination on the private housing market is particularly acute against Africans (Bonnet, Lalé, Safi, & Wasmer, ; Bunel et al, ; HALDE, ), findings that are corroborated by self‐declared reports of discrimination (Pan Ké Shon & Scodellaro, ; Safi & Simon, ).…”

Closed doors everywhere? A meta-analysis of field experiments on ethnic discrimination in rental housing markets

“…12. The two exceptional trials were done in 2007 in Canada with Jewish testers (Hogan and Berry 2011), and in 2009 in France with North-African testers (Bonnet et al 2016). 13.…”

Disentangling the Effects of Race and Place in Economic Transactions: Findings from an Online Field Experiment

“…For similar work outside of the United States, seeBonnet et al (2016),Bunel, L'Horty, and Petit (2014). 2 At the outset of our pilot study, we signaled the occupational status of buyers by affixing names in the…”