Working Paper: NBER ID: w30344
Authors: Michael Luca; Elizaveta Pronkina; Michelangelo Rossi
Abstract: We present evidence that discrimination against Asian-American Airbnb users sharply increased at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a DiD approach, we find that hosts with distinctively Asian names experienced a 20 percent decline in guests relative to hosts with distinctively White names. In contrast, we do not see spikes in discrimination against Black or Hispanic hosts. Our results suggest that the rise in anti-Asian sentiment in 2020 translated to discrimination in economic activity, highlighting the ways in which scapegoating minority groups can shape markets. Our results also point to the role of platform design choices in enabling discrimination.
Keywords: discrimination; COVID-19; Airbnb; Asian Americans; difference-in-differences
JEL Codes: J15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| COVID-19 (I15) | discrimination against Asian American Airbnb hosts (J15) |
| discrimination against Asian American Airbnb hosts (J15) | decline in guests (Z30) |
| COVID-19 (I15) | decline in guests for Asian American hosts (Z30) |
| discrimination against Asian American Airbnb hosts (J15) | increase in discrimination during pandemic (J79) |
| COVID-19 (I15) | anti-Asian sentiment (J71) |
| anti-Asian sentiment (J71) | discrimination against Asian American Airbnb hosts (J15) |
| COVID-19 (I15) | decline in guests for white hosts (J79) |
| decline in guests for Asian American hosts (Z30) | decline in guests for white hosts (J79) |