Poster 8: Recent empirical work has found evidence of customer discrimination against minorities, but it remains unclear whether the underlying source is taste-based or statistical discrimination. I design and implement a field experiment using an online marketplace that allows me to measure customer discrimination against blacks in a real-world setting. I sell iPod Shuffles on eBay and vary seller race and rating to isolate the independent effects of taste-based and statistical customer discrimination. I find no evidence of either source of customer discrimination against minority sellers. In fact, the results suggest black sellers may even be favored in this online venue, although the estimated differences are imprecise and lack statistical significance.
