There’s an interesting study out about discrimination, but with a twist.
A study conducted by students at Harvard found that Asian Americans get on average 20 percent less per week for their AirBNB rentals than Whites, reports NPR.
The study published in the Journal of Technology looked at AirBNB hosts in Berkeley and Oakland.
Their model predicts on average Asian Americans will make $89.72 less than their White counterparts for a one bedroom rental and $144.45 less per week for two bedrooms.
“Consumers come to expect paying Asian people less,” Ellen Wu, professor of Asian American studies at Indiana University, said. “We’ve come to expect cheaply priced products manufactured in places in China.”
Most Asian American hosts contacted by NPR said they didn’t think race played a factor in the rental prices they got, but researcher Michael Luca, who made similar findings about Black AirBNB hosts, discounts that.
“They only have one data set—themselves. Also, many people don’t fully understand the role that subconscious discrimination plays in decision-making.”
You can read more details about both studies and what’s behind the disparities on NPR.
