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Can the Government Deter Discrimination? Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in New York City

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  • Fang, Albert H.
  • Guess, Andrew M.
  • Humphreys, Macartan

Abstract

Racial discrimination persists despite established antidiscrimination laws. A common government strategy to deter discrimination is to publicize the law and communicate potential penalties for violations. We study this strategy by coupling an audit experiment with a randomized intervention involving nearly 700 landlords in New York City and report the first causal estimates of the effect on rental discrimination against blacks and Hispanics of a targeted government messaging campaign. We uncover discrimination levels higher than prior estimates indicate, especially against Hispanics, who are approximately 6 percentage points less likely to receive callbacks and offers than whites. We find suggestive evidence that government messaging can reduce discrimination against Hispanics but not against blacks. The findings confirm discrimination’s persistence and suggest that government messaging can address it in some settings, but more work is needed to understand the conditions under which such appeals are most effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Fang, Albert H. & Guess, Andrew M. & Humphreys, Macartan, 2019. "Can the Government Deter Discrimination? Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in New York City," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 81(1), pages 127-141.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:209709
    DOI: 10.1086/700107
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Stephen M. Utych & Luke Fowler, 2020. "Age-based messaging strategies for communication about COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(1).
    3. Simonovits, Gábor & Simonovits, Bori, 2022. "Csökkenthető-e a diszkrimináció a megosztáson alapuló gazdaságban? Egy magyarországi telekocsioldalon végzett kísérleti kutatás eredményei [Can discrimination be decreased in the new platform econo," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1457-1474.
    4. de la Campa, Elijah A. & Reina, Vincent J., 2023. "Landlords’ rental businesses before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a National Cross-Site Survey," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(PB).
    5. Yang, Wei & Hu, Bo, 2022. "Catastrophic health expenditure and mental health in the older Chinese population: the moderating role of social health insurance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110968, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Sylvain Chareyron & Yannick L’Horty & Pascale Petit, 2023. "Cream skimming and discrimination in access to medical care: A field experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1868-1883, August.
    7. Gaddis, S. Michael & DiRago, Nicholas V., 2021. "Audit Studies of Housing in the United States: Established, Emerging, and Future Research," SocArXiv fn4ta, Center for Open Science.
    8. Murchie, Judson & Pang, Jindong & Schwegman, David J., 2021. "Can information help Lakisha and Jamal find housing? Evidence from a low-cost online experiment of landlords," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

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