Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets —

<strong>Digitalisation</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>economy</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>its</strong> <strong>impact</strong> on labour markets
Indeed, in San Francisco (California) a lively debate erupted in 2015 about <strong>the</strong>
consequences <strong>of</strong> Airbnb on <strong>the</strong> supply <strong>of</strong> accommodation (falling) <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> price
<strong>of</strong> rents (increasing), with increasing numbers <strong>of</strong> owners preferring <strong>the</strong> higher
income to be derived from renting <strong>the</strong>ir property to tourists. The same
phenomenon is beginning to be observed in certain European cities, in
particular Paris.
What is more, this phenomenon is accompanied by what might be described
as <strong>the</strong> emergence <strong>of</strong> digital discrimination, even though this aspect seems today
to be very little documented. To our knowledge, <strong>the</strong>re are extremely few studies
available, but those which do exist show that <strong>the</strong> discrimination patterns <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
real <strong>economy</strong> are being reproduced in just <strong>the</strong> same way in <strong>the</strong> digital <strong>economy</strong>.
In <strong>the</strong> same vein, an interesting study published by <strong>the</strong> Harvard Business
School examines <strong>the</strong> question <strong>of</strong> ‘digital discrimination’ at Airbnb. ‘Online
marketplaces <strong>of</strong>ten contain information not only about products, but also
about <strong>the</strong> people selling <strong>the</strong> products. In an effort to facilitate trust, many
platforms encourage sellers to provide personal pr<strong>of</strong>iles <strong>and</strong> even to post
pictures <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>mselves. However, <strong>the</strong>se features may also facilitate
discrimination based on sellers’ race, gender, age, or o<strong>the</strong>r aspects <strong>of</strong>
appearance’ (Edelman <strong>and</strong> Luca 2014). It indeed emerges from this study that
‘using a new data set combining pictures <strong>of</strong> all New York City l<strong>and</strong>lords on
Airbnb with <strong>the</strong>ir rental prices <strong>and</strong> information about quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rentals,
we show that non-black hosts charge approximately 12% more than black hosts
for <strong>the</strong> equivalent rental (…). These findings highlight <strong>the</strong> prevalence <strong>of</strong>
discrimination in online marketplaces, suggesting an important unintended
consequence <strong>of</strong> a seemingly routine mechanism for building trust’ (Edelman
<strong>and</strong> Luca 2014).
Thus, a study on peer-to-peer financing shows that ‘loan listings with Blacks
in <strong>the</strong> attached picture are 25 to 35 percent less likely to receive funding than
those <strong>of</strong> whites with similar credit pr<strong>of</strong>iles’ (Pope <strong>and</strong> Sydnor 2008) According
to this study, <strong>the</strong> interest rates asked <strong>of</strong> Blacks in this mode <strong>of</strong> alternative
financing are 60 to 80 base points higher than those asked <strong>of</strong> Whites.
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