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Agent Response to Client Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Side of Market

Last registered on April 28, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Agent Response to Client Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Side of Market
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009310
Initial registration date
April 25, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 28, 2022, 6:11 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Ohio

Primary Investigator

Name
Andrew Hanson
Affiliation
University of Illinois at Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Zackary Hawley
PI Affiliation
Texas Christian University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2021-05-01
End date
2021-10-01
Keywords
Behavior, Gender
Additional Keywords
racial discrimination
JEL code(s)
J15, C93, L85
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study examines if and how agents respond to clients of different race, ethnicity, gender, and side of market when participating in the market for owner-occupied housing.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hanson, Andrew and Zackary Hawley. 2022. "Agent Response to Client Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Side of Market." AEA RCT Registry. April 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9310-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conduct a correspondence study using e-mail contact with subjects.
Intervention Start Date
2021-06-01
Intervention End Date
2021-08-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Response to an e-mail.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment is conducted through random assignment over a publicly available subject pool.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment is conducted through random assignment over a publicly available subject pool.
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual subject
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
This is not a traditional cluster, but we assign client race, ethnicity, gender, and side of market to an individual subject. In this way, the experiment can be thought of as a 3x2x2 design, but the "clusters" are over-lapping.
Sample size: planned number of observations
29,498
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2458
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Using a difference in proportions test, we anticipate being able to detect a minimum of a 10 percentage point difference in response in the smallest cell. In the overall response difference in the largest category we will be able to detect a minimum of a 1 percentage point difference in response.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Texas Christian University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2021-04-21
IRB Approval Number
Protocol #2021-0317
IRB Name
University of Illinois at Chicago IRB
IRB Approval Date
2021-04-14
IRB Approval Number
This IRB determined that the activity is not research and allowed it to be conducted without further review
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
August 20, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
October 01, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
29,498
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
29,498
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
2458
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
We design and implement a correspondence experiment to test for differences in real estate agent response across client race, ethnicity, gender, and side of market. Real estate agents are more likely to respond to White clients than Black or Hispanic clients—Whites have a 32.18% higher response rate than Hispanics and an 8.48% higher response rate than Black clients. We also find that real estate agents are more responsive to sellers (23.81% premium over buyers) and female clients (13.57% premium over males).
Citation
Hanson, Andrew & Zackary Hawley, “Restricted Access: Real Estate Agent Response to Client Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Side of Market” (with Zackary Hawley) Real Estate Economics, 51(4), 2023: 855–890.
URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6229.12438

Reports & Other Materials