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Guess Who's Been Coming to Dinner? Trends in Interracial Marriage over the 20th Century

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  • Roland G. Fryer Jr.

Abstract

This paper studies marriages across black, white, and Asian racial lines. Marrying across racial lines is a rare event, even today. Interracial marriages account for approximately 1 percent of white marriages, 5 percent of black marriages, and 14 percent of Asian marriages. Following a brief history of the regulation of race and romance in America, I analyze interracial marriage using census data from 1880-2000, uncovering a rich set of cross-section and time-series patterns. I investigate the extent to which three different theories of interracial marriage can account for the patterns discovered. After also testing a social exchange theory and a search model, I find the data are most consistent with a Becker-style marriage market model in which objective criteria of a potential spouse, their race, and the social price of intermarriage are central.

Suggested Citation

  • Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2007. "Guess Who's Been Coming to Dinner? Trends in Interracial Marriage over the 20th Century," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 71-90, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:21:y:2007:i:2:p:71-90
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.21.2.71
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.21.2.71
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adachi, Hiroyuki, 2003. "A search model of two-sided matching under nontransferable utility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 182-198, December.
    2. Roland G. Fryer & Steven D. Levitt, 2004. "Understanding the Black-White Test Score Gap in the First Two Years of School," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 447-464, May.
    3. Federico Echenique & Roland G. Fryer, 2007. "A Measure of Segregation Based on Social Interactions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 122(2), pages 441-485.
    4. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jacob L. Vigdor, 1999. "The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(3), pages 455-506, June.
    5. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    6. Roland G. Fryer & Matthew O. Jackson, 2002. "Categorical Cognition: A Psychological Model of Categories and Identification in Decision Making," Microeconomics 0211002, EconWPA.
    7. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-846, July-Aug..
    8. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    9. Finis Welch, 2003. "Catching Up: Wages of Black Men," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 320-325, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Roland G. Fryer Jr. & Lisa Kahn & Steven D. Levitt & Jörg L. Spenkuch, 2012. "The Plight of Mixed-Race Adolescents," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 621-634, August.
    2. repec:kap:poprpr:v:37:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11113-017-9454-0 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Belot, Michèle & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2010. "Anthropometry of love: Height and gender asymmetries in interethnic marriages," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 361-372, December.
    4. Stéphane Mechoulan, 2011. "The External Effects of Black Male Incarceration onBlack Females," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 1-35, January.
    5. Ruebeck Christopher S & Averett Susan L & Bodenhorn Howard N, 2009. "Acting White or Acting Black: Mixed-Race Adolescents' Identity and Behavior," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-44, March.
    6. Hou, Feng & Myles, John & Schimmele, Christoph & Wu, Zheng, 2015. "Group Size and Social Interaction: a Canada-US Comparison of Interracial Marriage," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2015-10, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 07 Jul 2015.
    7. repec:spr:demogr:v:55:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s13524-018-0648-9 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Fernihough, Alan & Ó Gráda, Cormac & Walsh, Brendan M., 2015. "Intermarriage in a divided society: Ireland a century ago," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-14.
    9. repec:spr:jopoec:v:31:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-017-0662-z is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Laouénan, Morgane, 2014. "'Can't Get Enough': Prejudice, Contact Jobs and the Racial Wage Gap in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 8006, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    11. Alan Fernihough & Cormac Ó Gráda & Brendan M. Walsh, 2014. "Mixed marriages in Ireland a century ago," Working Papers 201407, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    12. Josue Ortega & Philipp Hergovich, 2017. "The Strength of Absent Ties: Social Integration via Online Dating," Papers 1709.10478, arXiv.org.
    13. Chatterji, Aaron K. & Seamans, Robert C., 2012. "Entrepreneurial finance, credit cards, and race," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 182-195.
    14. Fairlie, Robert W., 2009. "Can the "one-drop rule" tell us anything about racial discrimination? New evidence from the multiple race question on the 2000 Census," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 451-460, August.
    15. repec:eee:ecoedu:v:63:y:2018:i:c:p:31-50 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:bla:ecorec:v:93:y:2017:i::p:1-15 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Richard Wright & Steven Holloway & Mark Ellis, 2013. "Gender and the Neighborhood Location of Mixed-Race Couples," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 393-420, April.
    18. Nora Gordon & Sarah Reber, 2016. "The Effects of School Desegregation on Mixed-Race Births," NBER Working Papers 22480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Frank T Denton & Byron G Spencer, 2016. "Immigration And The Rate Of Population Mixing: Explorations With A Stylized Model," Department of Economics Working Papers 2016-13, McMaster University.

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