Ethnic discrimination during wartime : Evidence from a field experiment in the Finnish housing market

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Journal Title

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Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2023-12

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

12

Series

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Volume 107

Abstract

This paper presents a field experiment studying possible discrimination against Russians in the rental housing market in Finland. We study the effect of discriminatory behaviour by the landlords during the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, an event that has shaped ideas, attitudes, and behaviour. We let three fictitious individuals, one Finnish, one Russian and one British, apply for vacant rental apartments advertised by landlords on the internet. We then investigated whether there were differences between the individuals in the number of callbacks received and positive invitations to further contact. Linear probability models revealed strong evidence of differential treatment of Russians by Finnish landlords. The discriminatory behaviour is mainly driven by male, private landlords. The present study extends the literature on discrimination in the rental housing market and provides insights into its mechanisms.

Description

Funding Information: We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. We also wish to thank Peppi Papadopoulou and Haris Mourelatos for research assistance. This work was supported by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland (decision numbers 352450 and 352451 ) and the West-Finland Housing Association of Public Utility. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

Keywords

Discrimination, Field experiments, Internet, Rental housing market

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Citation

Mourelatos , E & Oikarinen , E 2023 , ' Ethnic discrimination during wartime : Evidence from a field experiment in the Finnish housing market ' , Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics , vol. 107 , 102079 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2023.102079