Authors: Jessica Alder, Sofie R. Waltl, Kate Konatsu Nishigai, Helen X. H. Bao
Year: 2026
Status: Under Review
PDF: Download
Research line: Exclusion and spatial inequality in housing markets
Project folder: Perceived Ethnic Discrimination in Japan — the dashboard, outline, notes, codes, data, figures, bibliography, and journal-submission subfolders live there.
Abstract
We study beliefs about market access in Tokyo’s rental housing sector. Despite growing evidence that beliefs about discrimination have direct economic consequences, independently of realised discriminatory behaviour, little is known about how majority and minority group perceive the same minority disadvantage at the group and individual levels. We use a name-based survey experiment in Tokyo where native Japanese and foreign-born residents evaluate whether otherwise identical applicants would receive a viewing invitation. Majority respondents perceive lower access probabilities for minority applicants than minority respondents do. Minority respondents, in turn, perceive higher access probabilities for themselves than for minority applicants generally. Both groups perceive minority disadvantage, but minority respondents perceive less of it, a pattern we term the Group-Group Discrimination Discrepancy (GGDD). They also perceive less disadvantage for themselves than for their group, consistent with the established Personal-Group Discrimination Discrepancy (PGDD).