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FINANCIAL – Airbnb often boasts of its economic impact in "diverse" neighborhoods, saying that customers are spending money locally and drinking businesses in areas where tourism is not already widespread.
According to HBS, it is not their black or Latino counterparts who are most likely to benefit from an influx of Airbnb guests.
The study found that users of the sharing platform usually eat in neighborhood restaurants. However, the overflow effect does not hold when 50% or more of the inhabitants of a neighborhood are black or Hispanic. "Airbnb has repeatedly stated that it helps the local economy in black neighborhoods, especially in New York," Mohammad said. Rahman, a professor at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, specializes in the digital economy and big data. "We find no evidence of this effect of economic training in employment in restaurants."
Rahman and his team focused their initial research on Airbnb 's impact on employment growth in New York' s most visited and active restaurants. They analyzed neighborhood data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census and Airbnb as well as 3.5 million Yelp reviews from more than 34,000 New York restaurants between 2005 and 2015 to measure the impact Economic sharing of the house has a job in local restaurants. (Researchers eliminated neighborhoods with strong tourism activity prior to the launch of Airbnb in 2008 and controlled the popularity of restaurants and neighborhood characteristics.)
Researchers found that neighborhoods were experiencing rapid growth in employment in restaurants. These regions have also seen an increase in their share of Yelp reviews by visitors to New York, a measure that, according to researchers, reconfirmed the results of their work. According to researchers, Airbnb restaurants could be attracted to more affordable housing in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. but not enough to eat there.
"Visitors may not feel comfortable walking around and visiting restaurants in these minority areas," Rahman said. "This is the uncomfortable reality in our society.They can be a lot more cautious and just sleep at Airbnb, come and go in the comfort of an Uber or a Lyft."
There might also be a more benign reason for the disparity, he said. "The types of restaurants that these visitors are looking for may not be present in these neighborhoods."
The researchers then extended their study to five other cities and found similar models in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and San Francisco. 19659003] There was one exception: the impact of home sharing on employment in restaurants extends to predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, where nearly half of the residents are Hispanic [19659003] Nick Papas, an Airbnb spokesman, challenges the results of the study. a working document that he called "deeply flawed."
"Airbnb undoubtedly stimulates local businesses," Papas said in a statement. "Using a subjective and voluntary contribution like Yelp's critics to draw conclusions in what claims to be rigorous analysis is false."
According to the company, Airbnb customers spend 32% of their money in the neighborhoods where they stay. Percent of New York City hosts recommend local small businesses to their guests. The company said it was working to showcase local businesses, partnering with the Queens Chamber of Commerce last month to sponsor a tourist blender where Airbnb hosts mingled with restaurant representatives and neighboring shops. And in New York, Papas said Airbnb customers were growing faster in predominantly black neighborhoods than in the entire city. "We are currently creating significant economic opportunities in communities of color that have historically been ignored by hotels"
Benjamin Edelman, a Harvard Business School professor who studies the economics of online markets, has conducted his own research on discrimination on the Airbnb platform. He did not participate in Rahman's study, but reviewed the research.
"Airbnb is wrong to assume that its service also benefits all groups, and all available evidence shows otherwise," said Edelman, whose own research found that black hosts earn 12 percent less than their hosts. non-blacks with comparable rentals Another Harvard study found that users whose names are perceived as black find 16% more difficult than whites to book accommodation on Airbnb.
"If Airbnb wants to do well by Minority users, there are many good options. Edelman said:
Rahman said that he relied primarily on government employment data – not on Yelp's critics – to address concerns about discrimination. Rahman says he and his colleagues plan to deepen the data and analyze the reviews on Yelp and Airbnb for the "racial code words", as well as the Airbnb guests' races, which may offer According to him, it is imperative to understand all the effects of the sharing economy because regulators have difficulty understanding the disparity, according to HBS.
h ways to frame the legislative discussions surrounding its impact.
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