Discriminations in the market for “Lemons”: A multicriteria correspondence test in France

• Published in: Economics of transportation (England) Vol. 24; p. 100192
• Main Authors: Mbaye, Souleymane, Bunel, Mathieu, L'Horty, Yannick, Petit, Pascale, Parquet, Loïc du
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Discrimination; Mobility; Testing; Used cars; Discrimination; Mobility; Used cars; M53; C93; J14; Testing
• ISSN: 2212-0122
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecotra.2020.100192

The existence of discrimination by the sellers of second-hand cars is a little studied subject, whereas the possibility of acquiring a car conditions multiple aspects of economic and social life. In this article, we apply the correspondence test method to the purchase of a used car in order to measure the extent of discrimination in this market according to the ethnic origin, gender, place of residence and age of the applicant. We constructed six profiles of fictitious individuals, perfectly similar except for their age, gender, origin indicated by the consonance of their surname and first name or place of residence. Between January and May 2015, we used these fictitious profiles to respond to 489 used car sales ads located in Ile-de- France. Statistical analysis of the responses to these tests reveals the existence of discrimination according to gender and place of residence. The analysis shows that information based discrimination prevails on the second-hand car market rather than taste based discriminations. •Statistical analysis of the responses to these tests reveals discriminations based on gender and place of residence.•Information based discrimination prevails on the second-hand car market rather than taste based discriminations.•Sending a message with errors reduces the chances of receiving a non-negative response.•The quality of the message is not of great importance to offerers as soon as the candidate is residing in a CPD.