> Renters with White-sounding name received a 60% response rate, compared to a 54% and 57% response rate for those with African American and Hispanic identities
Depending on how the study was made, a 3% difference can be within the margin of error.
Also, I don't think that there is a scientific method to discern which name is white sounding, thus making the entire study stand on unscientific grounds.
> Also, I don't think that there is a scientific method to discern which name is white sounding,
A common way would be to take a sample of the population of interest, submit the names to them, and have them identify if the names are “white sounding”, “African American sounding”, etc.; its the same way you scientific evaluate population response to anything (like the study question of how people respond to different names.)
There's also the method of identifying names that are statistically more common in one community than others as typical of that community.
There's a few other possible (and still scientific) operationalizations of the trait in question, and while it is important in doing a detailed evaluation of the research to understand which operationalization was used, this doesn't somehow make the question fundamentally unscientific.
Similar trends exist in the buyer’s market. Research has found that homes in Black and Latino neighborhoods are persistently undervalued by appraisers, further widening the racial wealth gap.
That sounds nonsensical to me.
Isn't something only worth what people are prepared to pay for it.
Appraisers take local past sale prices into account when calculating a valuation.
If properties are undervalued by appraisers then they will attract more potential buyers. They will bid the prices for the area up, which will then be reflected in later appraisals unless the appraisers want to go out of business.
Racism doesn't make much sense to me neither but you can lookup the case studies. I remember one story about how a Black person asked their White friend to do the appraiser tour (after replacing his family photos with photos of his friends family) and saw a significant increase in the valuation.
Competitive bids on houses is at relatively new phenomenon caused by our current housing crunch. Typically, the assessment is the price of sale. The idea being that you should do whatever work on your home that needs to be done to increase the value before appraisal.
In that (more realistic) market, persistent undervaluing based on anything other than the actual house for sale is taking money out of the home owners pocket from the sale. If this happens because of race, then this is obviously an issue.
In that (more realistic) market, persistent undervaluing based on anything other than the actual house for sale is taking money out of the home owners pocket from the sale. If this happens because of race, then this is obviously an issue.
Well it's an issue for the seller but a boon for the buyer who also would be likely to be from the same race.
As a former Chicago resident, I could totally see this; the solution is to anonymize the rental application process using a neutral third-party (which handles credit and background checks).
The reality, however, is that apartment / home rental is a devil’s bargain, regardless of status, and gaming the system to catch racist landlords is not unlike using a magnet to pick up nails.
I lucked out in my last apartment building, with a decent landlord and well-kept (owner-managed) property, but that was an exception, even for a gainfully-employed white cis male.
Chicago explicitly sucks for renters, in spite of the landlord-tenant laws on the books; frankly, inexpensive working-class housing doesn’t exist anywhere in urban America.
Anything that receives a relevant number of votes is relevant to HN. There aren't any editors or curators here. Also:
> Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag, please don't also comment that you did.
Depending on how the study was made, a 3% difference can be within the margin of error.
Also, I don't think that there is a scientific method to discern which name is white sounding, thus making the entire study stand on unscientific grounds.