We use data from Airbnb to identify the mechanisms underlying discrimination against ethnic minority hosts. Within the same neighborhood, hosts from minority groups charge 3.2 percent less for comparable listings. Since ratings provide guests with increasingly rich information about a listing’s quality, we can measure the contribution of statistical discrimination, building upon Altonji and Pierret (2001). We find that statistical discrimination can account for the whole ethnic price gap: ethnic gaps would disappear if all unobservables were revealed. Also, three-quarters (2.5 points) of the initial ethnic gap can be attributed to inaccurate beliefs of potential guests about hosts’ average group quality. (JEL D83, J15, L84)

中文翻译：

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信息能减少种族歧视吗？来自 Airbnb 的证据

我们使用来自 Airbnb 的数据来确定歧视少数族裔房东的机制。在同一社区内，少数族裔房东对可比房源的收费要低 3.2%。由于评级为客人提供了越来越丰富的关于房源质量的信息，我们可以根据 Altonji 和 Pierret (2001) 来衡量统计歧视的贡献。我们发现统计歧视可以解释整个种族价格差距：如果所有不可观察的因素都被揭露，种族差距就会消失。此外，最初的种族差距的四分之三（2.5 分）可归因于潜在客人对主人平均群体质量的不准确信念。(JEL D83, J15, L84)