Ethnic discrimination in the Italian rental housing market

“The lack of information on the economic and social characteristics of the applicant gives rise, instead, to statistical discrimination (Phelps, 1972; Aigner and Cain, 1977):”

“The studies have mainly dealt with the labour market, but also with the housing and the product markets (see Riach and Rich (2002) for a detailed review).”

“This method is quite expensive in terms of both energies and direct costs, and presents some weaknesses (Heckman and Siegelman, 1993; Heckman, 1998).”

“This means that the person who discriminates can follow personal hostile attitudes, or comply with the prejudiced attitude of the group of people to which he/she is tied (Becker, 1957; Yinger, 1986).”

“Ahmed and Hammarstedt (2008) found that discrimination increases with the total rent of the housing unit.”

“This approach in the rental housing market was used for the first time by Carpusor and Loges (2006): their results show that in Los Angeles County the Afro-American- and Arab-sounding names receive less callbacks than the white-sounding names, and that Afro-Americans are the ethnic group most…”

“In a similar regression, but considering only Arab and native names, Bosch et al. (2010) obtain for Spain a coefficient of discrimination similar to our results.”

“We used a random assignment procedure to submit the requests, as do Carpusor and Loges (2006) and Ahmed et al. (2010) in their papers: each landlord was approached by only one of the applicants.”

“They find some mild evidence of discrimination (ratio of 1.14), which could be due to the nature of the signaling (e.g. working in gay pride, as opposed to the red cross, may be seen as a political gesture, not just revealing an identity).9 In Italy, ? finds higher discrimination (1.38) and in the US, ? find none.”

“Rather than being an explanatory variable, prior knowledge has the effect of perpetuating the vicious cycle of discrimination described in Section 2.3.”

“We included data from 25 studies, covering 14 countries: France (Acolin et al., 2016, Bunel et al., 2017, Bunel et al. 2016, Le Gallo et al., 2017), Canada (Hogan, Berry, 2011), Czech Republic (Bartoš et al., 2016), Slovakia (Sacherová, 2016), Finland (Öblom and Antfolk, 2017), Denmark (Herby and Nielsen, 2015), Germa…”

“Baldini and Federici (2011) conducted tests of ethnic discrimination in Italy for four months from March 2010 responding to over three thousand six hundred adverts for rental properties.”

“While a difficult and ethnicized access for migrants is typical of the Italian housing market (Barban and Dalla Zuanna 2008; Baldini and Federici 2011), the expectation of a relatively short stay abroad may contribute to the perception of this state of things as more acceptable.”

“2 Examples of studies using the correspondence testing methodology are Carpusor and Loges (2006), Ahmed and Hammarstedt (2008), Ahmed et al. (2010), Bosch et al. (2010), Baldini and Federici (2011), Hanson and Hawley (2011), Ewens et al. (2012), and Andersson et al. (2012).”

“…Yinger (2006), Carpusor and Loges (2006), Ahmed and Hammarstedt (2008), Ahmed, Andersson, and Hammarstedt (2010), Bosch, Carnero, and Farre (2010), Baldini and Federici (2011), Hanson and Hawley (2011), Andersson, Jakobsson, and Kotsadam (2012), Ewens, Tomlin, and Wang (2014), and Carlsson and…”

“Although previous studies have examined the occurrence of ethnic discrimination in the housing market in Europe (Ahmed and Hammarstedt 2008; Baldini and Federici 2011; Bosch, Carnero, and Farre 2010), the link with”

“Second, a ‘random assignment’ procedure is used, in which only one e-mail is sent in response to a particular advertisement, either by the control or experimental group (e.g. Ahmed et al., 2010; Baldini & Federici, 2011; Carpusor & Loges, 2006).”

“…sample sizes (ranging from 5000–14 000) that have offered solid evidence that some ethnic minorities are less likely to receive replies (or positive replies) from landlords (Ahmed & Hammarstadt, 2008; Bosch et al., 2010; Baldini & Federici, 2011; Ewens et al., 2012; Hanson & Hawley, 2014).”

“…that racial-ethnic discrimination would be reduced in these cases if the discrimination is statistically based (Ahmed, Andersson, and Hammarstedt 2010; Auspurg, Hinz, and Schmid 2017; Baldini and Federici 2011; Bosch, Carenero, and Farré 2010; Edo, Jacquemet, and Yannelis 2019; Ewens et al. 2014).”

“Discrimination in the Italian housing market has been recently documented by Baldini and Federici (2011), who selected a large sample of renting advertisements for housing units throughout Italy that were posted on the internet and sent fictitious email requests to visit such units.”

“treated preferentially compared with minorities of nonEuropean origin (Baldini and Federici, 2011; Booth, Leigh and Varganova, 2012; Carlsson and Eriksson, 2015; Acolin, Bostic and Painter, 2016; Baert et al., 2017; Lancee, 2019; Vernby and Dancygier, 2019).”

“…rate between natives and non-Europeans and to-date relatively few studies have examined the difference in discrimination between natives and European migrants (but see Baldini and Federici 2011; Acolin, Bostic, and Painter 2016; Öblom and Antfolk 2017; Björnsson, Kopsch, and Zoega 2018).”

“Field experiments are used in a variety of markets to study discrimination, for example in housing (Ahmed and Hammarstedt, 2008; Baldini and Federici, 2011; Bosch et al., 2010; Hanson and Hawley, 2011), online auctions (Shohat and Musch, 2003), cars (Ayres and Sigelman, 1995), or insurance (Spencer et al.”

“Because these coresidents are often also renters and thus customers, this model is sometimes called “customer taste-based discrimination” (e.g. Baldini and Federici 2011; Auspurg, Hinz, and Schmid 2017).”

“Social Science and Medicine, 71(6): 1182-1188, 2010.”

“7 Europe, and in some cases even higher.(4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14) The argument by Gordon and Rosenblum(3) that discrimination against individuals with a visual impairment might be compared to discrimination based on other criteria seems defensible, at least in order of magnitude.”

“Results have been replicated across urban contexts in the United States (Massey & Lundy, 2001), Australia (MacDonald et al., 2016), Italy (Baldini & Federici, 2011), Belgium (Heylen & Van den Broeck, 2016; Van der Bracht et al., 2015), France (Acolin et al., 2016; Bonnet et al., 2016), and Sweden…”

“A variant of paired testing using only contacts via the phone, mail, or Internet—correspondence studies—has also been used in other national contexts to assess the relationship between ethnicity and housing discrimination, including in Sweden (Ahmed & Hammarstedt, 2008), Norway (Andersson, Jakobsson, & Kotsadam, 2012)…”

“These four studies seem to indicate that discriminatio is only significant in areas with a larger concentrated share of immigrants (the northern regions of Italy for the first, the suburbs of Stockholm for the second, metropolitan areas for the third, and the Northeast, Southeast and Paris regions for the fourth).”

“Additionally, significant but lower levels of discrimination are also found towards candidates with European-sounding names (Acolin, Bostic, and Painter 2016; Baldini and Federici 2011; Björnsson, Kopsch, and Zoega 2018; Carlsson and Eriksson 2014).”

“The latter result is in line with previous research, which found that giving more positive information about a candidate’s professional or personal characteristics relates to lower levels of discrimination toward ethnic minority candidates (Baldini and Federici, 2011; Andersson et al., 2012).”

“In sum, migrants face discrimination in accessing housing (Ambrosini, 2013, 2016; Baldini & Federici, 2011; Baldini & Poggio, 2012), difficulty accessing social or rental housing due to supply limitations, and rising rental costs (CENSIS, 2005; CGIL-Sunia, 2016; Dell’Olio, 2004; Poggio & Boreiko,…”

“…demonstrate systematic differences in the way renters of different ethnicities are treated by agents (Ahmed and Hammarstedt 2008; Andersson, Jakobsson, and Kotsadam 2012; Baldini and Federici 2011; Bosch, Carnero, and Farré 2011; Carlsson and Eriksson 2014; Margery Austin Turner et al. 2013).”

“Discrimination has been measured against applicants with Arabic sounding names in Sweden (Carlsson & Eriksson, 2014), Spain (Bosch et al., 2010), Italy (Baldini & Federici, 2011) and Greece (Drydakis, 2010).”

“…from research in private rental markets report that they are discriminatory (Kumar, 2001a, 2001b; Ahmed & Hammarstedt, 2008; Bosch et al., 2010; Baldini & Federici, 2011; Thorat et al., 2015; Naik, 2015; Datta & Pathania, 2016; Murchie & Pang, 2018; Mukherjee, 2019; Verstraete & Moris, 2019).”

“…2014, Carlsson and Eriksson, 2014, Ahmed and Hammarstedt, 2008, Ahmed et al., 2010, Hanson and Hawley, 2011, Hanson et al., 2011, Carpusor and Loges, 2006), LGBT status (Ahmed and Hammarstedt, 2009), and immigrant status (Baldini and Federici, 2011, Bosch et al., 2010) in rental housing markets.”

“As with Carpusor and Loges (2006) they find that landlords discriminate against African-American names.”

“Flage (2018) summarized extensive evi - dence of discrimination in the housing market in the US (e.g., Ewens et al., 2014; Hanson & Hawley, 2011; Hanson & Santas, 2014) and Europe (e.g., Auspurg et al., 2017; Baldini & Federici, 2011; Bosch et al., 2010).”

“For Italy: Baldini & Federici, 2011.”

“In this regard, it should be pointed out that in the Italian context the literature has often focalized on the social aspects of the residential rental market, such as its ethnic and disability discrimination [50,51] and affordable and collaborative housing solutions [52–54].”

“Predominantly, the issue of discrimination in the rental housing market has two main features – prejudices, either of the agent or customer and the lack of important information relevant to decision making (Baldini & Federici, 2011).”

“Baldini and Federici (2011) find discrimination against those with Arab names and those with Eastern European names in Italy, and Acolin et al. (2016) find discrimination in France against some applicants with non- French-sounding names (e.g. from Turkey, North African countries, and Sub-Sahara…”

“Here, the emphasis lies on whether or not disclosing extra information about a candidate influences the level of discrimination (Auspurg et al., 2019; Baldini and Federici, 2011; Bosch et al., 2010; Ross and Turner, 2005).”

“…de l’ethnie (ex : Carpusor et Loges [2006] ; Ahmed et Hammarstedt [2008] ; Ahmed et al. [2010] ; Bosch et al. [2010] ; Hanson et Hawley [2011] ; Hogan et Berry [2011] ; Baldini et Federici [2011] ; Bengtsson et al. [2012] ; Bunel et al. [2016] ; Bunel et al. [2017] ; Le Gallo et al. [2018]).”

“Some scholars consider this a form of taste based discrimination (e.g. (Ahmed et al ., 2010; Auspurg et al ., 2017; Baldini & Federici, 2011), others interpret it as a form of statistical discrimination because it is more economic rational (e.g. Hanson & Hawley, 2014).”

“Discrimination is also present in the rental housing market in OECD countries with respect to ethnicity (e.g. Ahmed & Hammarstedt, 2008; Bosch et al ., 2010; Baldini & Federici, 2011; Flage, 2018; Murchie & Pang, 2018; Bunel et al ., 2019; Murchie et al , 2021;)”