Discrimination in the English and Polish Housing Markets

Abstract

Several studies have documented ethnic and gender discrimination in a variety markets, including the housing market. Discrimination in the housing market is associated with decreased social integration and is costly both at social and individual levels. In the current pre-registered field experiment, we sent inquires to advertisements for rentals in England and Poland. Inquires were signed with Arabic, English, or Polish sounding male and female names. Contrary to our expectation, we found no evidence of discrimination in the English housing market. We, however, found evidence of discrimination of Arabic males in the Polish housing market. The probability of receiving a response was generally lower in England compared to Poland. The results are discussed against current social and political situations in both countries.