IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/hit/hitjec/v53y2012i2p217-236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seller-Buyer Ethnic Matches: The Case Of Car Transactions At Two North American Auto Dealerships

Author

Listed:
  • OWAN, HIDEO
  • 都留, 康
  • TSURU, TSUYOSHI
  • UEHARA, KATSUHITO

Abstract

Using personnel and transaction data obtained from two Canadian auto dealerships, we examine whether ethnic matches between salespersons and customers affectsales prices and the number of units sold by individual salespersons. Regarding prices, we detect neither premium price setting nor discounting among seller-buyer matches of the same ethnic groups relative to those of different ethnic groups. Regarding the number of units sold by individual salespersons, however, we find that, relative to customer demographics, salespersons sell larger quantities to customers of the same ethnic group. Moreover, we find that high-performing salespersons conduct more transactions with customers of the same ethnic group than low-performers, especially in months when business conditions are unfavorable.

Suggested Citation

  • Owan, Hideo & 都留, 康 & Tsuru, Tsuyoshi & Uehara, Katsuhito, 2012. "Seller-Buyer Ethnic Matches: The Case Of Car Transactions At Two North American Auto Dealerships," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 53(2), pages 217-236, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hitjec:v:53:y:2012:i:2:p:217-236
    DOI: 10.15057/25384
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/25384/HJeco0530221700.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.15057/25384?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laura Giuliano & David I. Levine & Jonathan Leonard, 2009. "Manager Race and the Race of New Hires," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(4), pages 589-631, October.
    2. Harry J. Holzer & Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 1998. "Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes for Minority Workers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 835-867.
    3. Jennifer L. Doleac & Luke C.D. Stein, 2013. "The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(11), pages 469-492, November.
    4. John A. List, 2004. "The Nature and Extent of Discrimination in the Marketplace: Evidence from the Field," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 49-89.
    5. Karen A. Bantel & Susan E. Jackson, 1989. "Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 107-124, June.
    6. Ayres, Ian & Siegelman, Peter, 1995. "Race and Gender Discrimination in Bargaining for a New Car," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 304-321, June.
    7. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou, 1996. "Dealer Price Discrimination in New Car Purchases: Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(3), pages 622-654, June.
    8. Fiona Morton & Florian Zettelmeyer & Jorge Silva-Risso, 2003. "Consumer Information and Discrimination: Does the Internet Affect the Pricing of New Cars to Women and Minorities?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 65-92, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kathryn L. Shaw, 2019. "Bosses matter: The effects of managers on workers’ performance," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 456-456, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tsuru, Tsuyoshi & 都留, 康 & ツル, ツヨシ & Owan, Hideo & 大湾, 秀雄 & オオワン, ヒデオ & Uehara, Katsuhito & 上原, 克仁, 2010. "Price Discrimination and Social Network : Evidence from North American Auto Dealership Transaction Data," Discussion Paper Series a529, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Jacquemet, Nicolas & Yannelis, Constantine, 2012. "Indiscriminate discrimination: A correspondence test for ethnic homophily in the Chicago labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 824-832.
    3. Castillo, Marco & Petrie, Ragan & Torero, Maximo & Vesterlund, Lise, 2013. "Gender differences in bargaining outcomes: A field experiment on discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 35-48.
    4. Ambarish Chandra & Sumeet Gulati & James M. Sallee, 2017. "Who Loses when Prices are Negotiated? An Analysis of the New Car Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 235-274, June.
    5. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00745109 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. John J. Donohue III, 2005. "The Law and Economics of Antidiscrimination Law," NBER Working Papers 11631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Priyanga Gunarathne & Huaxia Rui & Abraham Seidmann, 2022. "Racial Bias in Customer Service: Evidence from Twitter," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 43-54, March.
    8. Morten Størling Hedegaard & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2018. "The Price of Prejudice," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 40-63, January.
    9. Caitlin Knowles Myers & Grace Close & Laurice Fox & John William Meyer & Madeline Niemi, 2011. "Retail Redlining: Are Gasoline Prices Higher In Poor And Minority Neighborhoods?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 795-809, July.
    10. Bello, Piera, 2023. "Gender-based price discrimination in the annuity market: Evidence from Chile," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    11. David Neumark, 2018. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 799-866, September.
    12. Michael Luca, 2016. "Designing Online Marketplaces: Trust and Reputation Mechanisms," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 17, pages 77-93, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. List John A., 2007. "Field Experiments: A Bridge between Lab and Naturally Occurring Data," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-47, April.
    14. Carlsson, Magnus & Fumarco, Luca & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2013. "Artifactual Evidence of Discrimination in Correspondence Studies? A Replication of the Neumark Method," IZA Discussion Papers 7619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Guofang Huang, 2020. "When to haggle, when to hold firm? Lessons from the used‐car retail market," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 579-604, July.
    16. Sandro Shelegia & Joshua Sherman, 2018. "Bargaining at Retail Stores: Evidence from Vienna," Economics Working Papers 1606, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    17. David L. Dickinson & Ronald L. Oaxaca, 2009. "Statistical Discrimination in Labor Markets: An Experimental Analysis," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(1), pages 16-31, July.
    18. David P Byrne & Leslie A Martin & Jia Sheen Nah, 2023. "Price Discrimination by Negotiation: a Field Experiment in Retail Electricity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(4), pages 2499-2537.
    19. David L. Dickinson & Ronald L. Oaxaca, 2014. "Wages, Employment, And Statistical Discrimination: Evidence From The Laboratory," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(4), pages 1380-1391, October.
    20. Huailu Li & Kevin Lang & Kaiwen Leong, 2018. "Does Competition Eliminate Discrimination? Evidence from the Commercial Sex Market in Singapore," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(611), pages 1570-1608, June.
    21. O. Cem Ozturk & Cheng He & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2024. "Frontiers: Inequalities in Dealers’ Interest Rate Markups? A Gender- and Race-Based Analysis," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 20-32, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ethnicity; price discrimination; seller-buyer matches; car transaction; social network;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hit:hitjec:v:53:y:2012:i:2:p:217-236. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Digital Resources Section, Hitotsubashi University Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fehitjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.