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Is hiding my first name enough? Using behavioural interventions to mitigate racial and gender discrimination in the rental housing market

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


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Abstract

jats:p This study investigates whether behavioural interventions can reduce racial and gender discrimination in the rental housing market. In our correspondence tests, we incorporated two specific behavioural interventions: providing employment details to assist letting agents in overcoming statistical discrimination and incorporating anti-discrimination messages to encourage adherence to the ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ social norm. Although these strategies notably influenced the likelihood of prospective renters receiving responses to their housing inquiries, the outcomes were not consistent across genders or ethnic groups and were not always positive. Racial and gender discrimination in housing markets is a complex issue. There are no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions when using behavioural tools to address complex social problems such as racial and gender discrimination. Behavioural interventions demand rigorous field testing prior to widespread adoption. </jats:p>

Description

Peer reviewed: True

Keywords

4406 Human Geography, 4407 Policy and Administration, 44 Human Society, 5 Gender Equality

Journal Title

Urban Studies

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0042-0980
1360-063X

Volume Title

61

Publisher

SAGE Publications