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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4029517
AutoresRoland G Fryer (0000-0002-4512-423X, Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts., autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume21
Fascículo2
Páginas71-90
Data de publicação2007-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965
EditoraAmerican Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1257/jep.21.2.71
OpenAlexW2066888259
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas86
Referências citadas20

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

Arranged Marriage · Census · Demographic economics · Economics · Genealogy · Marriage market · Population · Romance · Social exchange theory · Social science · Sociology · Spouse · Anthropology · Demography · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · History · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies