Skin in the game
Statistical Discrimination or Prejudice? A Large Sample Field Experiment
Michael Ewens, Bryan Tomlin & Liang Choon Wang
Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
Abstract:
A model of racial discrimination provides testable implications for two features of statistical discriminators: differential treatment of signals by race and heterogeneous experience that shapes perception. We construct an experiment in the U.S. rental apartment market that distinguishes statistical discrimination from taste-based discrimination. Responses from over 14,000 rental inquiries with varying applicant quality show that landlords treat identical information from applicants with African-American and white sounding names differently. This differential treatment varies by neighborhood racial composition and signal type in a manner consistent with statistical discrimination and in contrast to patterns predicted by a model of taste-based discrimination.
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Which name unlocks the door? The effect of tenant race/ethnicity on landlord response
Michelle Feldman & Allyson Weseley
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, June 2013, Pages E416-E425
Abstract:
Two Internet experiments investigated how the race/ethnicity and gender of prospective tenants impacted landlord response. Among males, Asian American tenants fared best, receiving 45.2% positive responses. Hispanic and White tenants received a similar number of positive responses (34.7% and 34.0%, respectively), while the African American tenant received the fewest (16.0%). In general, female prospective tenants received more positive responses than did male prospective tenants (40.8% vs. 27.1%); among females, White and Asian American women received more positive responses (67.3% and 60.8%, respectively) than did Hispanic (43.1%) and African American (41.2%) women. The experiments indicated that prospective tenants were more likely to receive positive responses when their race matched that of the neighborhood in which the apartment is located.
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What Underlies Urban Politics? Race, Class, Ideology, Partisanship, and the Urban Vote
Zoltan Hajnal & Jessica Trounstine
Urban Affairs Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
What is urban politics really about? Despite decades of research, there is still considerable disagreement about the relative roles of race, class, ideology, partisanship, and other factors in shaping the urban vote. In this article, we assemble a wide range of data on a diverse set of urban elections and offer a more explicit empirical test of what shapes urban politics. Our results suggest that local elections are partly an ideological battle, partly a partisan contest, and at least marginally linked to class, religion, and morality. Race, however, is the dominant factor in the local electoral arena. Local elections are in no small part a competition between blacks, whites, Latinos, and Asian-Americans over the leadership of their cities. We also assess how and why these divides vary across cities and electoral contexts finding that a theory of realistic group conflict best predicts patterns in the vote.
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William Collins & Marianne Wanamaker
NBER Working Paper, June 2013
Abstract:
The onset of World War I spurred the "Great Migration" of African Americans from the U.S. South, arguably the most important internal migration in U.S. history. We create a new panel dataset of more than 5,000 men matched from the 1910 to 1930 census manuscripts to address three interconnected questions: To what extent was there selection into migration? How large were the migrants' gains? Did migration narrow the racial gap in economic status? We find evidence of positive selection, but the migrants' gains were large. A substantial amount of black-white convergence in this period is attributable to migration.
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Danielle Winchester & Sandra Huston
Review of Black Political Economy, June 2013, Pages 165-184
Abstract:
Literature suggests that the use of a financial expert by Black households improves savings and investment behaviors. However, these households lack the financial knowledge and sophistication needed to select an appropriate financial expert. This admitted inability results in Black households relying on the recommendations of friends and family in selecting and hiring a financial expert. However results from this study suggest that Blacks who have successfully chosen a financial expert, i.e., are satisfied, are nearly two times (92%) less likely than non-Blacks to refer their financial planner to others. Decomposition analyses indicate that over 80% of satisfied Blacks should be willing to provide a referral yet only 50% do. The largest significant component of the difference in referral rates is culturally based perception differences of the variables used in determining the net benefit of providing a referral.
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Structural effect of size on interracial friendship
Siwei Cheng & Yu Xie
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 30 April 2013, Pages 7165-7169
Abstract:
Social contexts exert structural effects on individuals' social relationships, including interracial friendships. In this study, we posit that, net of group composition, total context size has a distinct effect on interracial friendship. Under the assumptions of (i) maximization of preference in choosing a friend, (ii) multidimensionality of preference, and (iii) preference for same-race friends, we conducted analyses using microsimulation that yielded three main findings. First, increased context size decreases the likelihood of forming an interracial friendship. Second, the size effect increases with the number of preference dimensions. Third, the size effect is diluted by noise, i.e., the random component affecting friendship formation. Analysis of actual friendship data among 4,745 American high school students yielded results consistent with the main conclusion that increased context size promotes racial segregation and discourages interracial friendship.
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Racial and Ethnic Disparities in ADHD Diagnosis From Kindergarten to Eighth Grade
Paul Morgan et al.
Pediatrics, forthcoming
Objective: Whether and to what extent racial/ethnic disparities in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis occur across early and middle childhood is currently unknown. We examined the over-time dynamics of race/ethnic disparities in diagnosis from kindergarten to eighth grade and disparities in treatment in fifth and eighth grade.
Methods: Analyses of the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (N = 17 100) using discrete-time hazard modeling.
Results: Minority children were less likely than white children to receive an ADHD diagnosis. With time-invariant and -varying confounding factors statistically controlled the odds of ADHD diagnosis for African Americans, Hispanics, and children of other races/ethnicities were 69% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 60%-76%), 50% (95% CI: 34%-62%), and 46% (95% CI: 26%-61%) lower, respectively, than for whites. Factors increasing children's risk of an ADHD diagnosis included being a boy, being raised by an older mother, being raised in an English-speaking household, and engaging in externalizing problem behaviors. Factors decreasing children's risk of an ADHD diagnosis included engaging in learning-related behaviors (eg, being attentive), displaying greater academic achievement, and not having health insurance. Among children diagnosed with ADHD, racial/ethnic minorities were less likely than whites to be taking prescription medication for the disorder.
Conclusions: Racial/ethnic disparities in ADHD diagnosis occur by kindergarten and continue until at least the end of eighth grade. Measured confounding factors do not explain racial/ethnic disparities in ADHD diagnosis and treatment. Culturally sensitive monitoring should be intensified to ensure that all children are appropriately screened, diagnosed, and treated for ADHD.
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Fatima Varner & Jelani Mandara
Journal of Research on Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
Differential parenting based on gender and birth order status was examined as an explanation for the achievement differences between African American males and females. In a sample of 796 African American adolescents from the MADICS study, girls were found to have much higher GPAs and test scores compared with boys. Girls reported receiving more monitoring, communication, and rule enforcement, but less autonomy in decision making than later-born boys. Mothers also reported higher expectations for girls than boys. A significant percent of the GPA and test score gap was accounted for by the parenting differences in both married and single mother-headed households. It was concluded that reducing differential parenting could help narrow gender differences in achievement among African American adolescents.
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The Role of Neighborhood Characteristics in Mortgage Default Risk: Evidence from New York City
Sewin Chan et al.
Journal of Housing Economics, June 2013, Pages 100-118
Abstract:
Using a rich database of non-prime mortgages from New York City, we find that census tract level neighborhood characteristics are important predictors of default behavior, even after controlling for an extensive set of controls for loan and borrower characteristics. First, default rates increase with the rate of foreclosure notices and the number of lender-owned properties (REOs) in the tract. Second, default rates on home purchase mortgages are higher in census tracts with larger shares of black residents, regardless of the borrower's own race. We explore possible explanations for this second finding and conclude that it likely reflects differential treatment of black neighborhoods by the mortgage industry in ways that are unobserved in our data.
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Callie Burt & Ronald Simons
Justice Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Evidence is accumulating that interpersonal racial discrimination is criminogenic and ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices provide resilience. This research, however, has largely focused on black males. We address this gap by exploring these risk and resilience processes among black females. Drawing on Simons and Burt's social schematic theory and research on adaptive cultural practices in African American families, this study investigates how interpersonal racial discrimination increases the risks of crime among females and whether familial ERS provides resilience. After focusing on females, we also compare the findings among females to those for males to shed light on gender differences. We examine these questions using panel data from the Family and Community Health Study, a survey of black families first surveyed in 1999 and at roughly two-year intervals thereafter. Consistent with prior work, we find a strong effect of racial discrimination on an increase in crime, with the bulk of this effect being mediated by the criminogenic knowledge structure. Although one of the two forms of ERS examined - cultural socialization - did not reduce the criminogenic effects of racial discrimination, preparation for bias exerted a strong protective effect. Comparing the findings to that for males revealed that preparation for bias attenuated the criminogenic effects of racial discrimination for both males and females, but it did so in gendered ways. This study fills a gap in our understanding of the criminogenic effects of discrimination among black females, supporting a social schematic theory's explanation of the effects of racial discrimination on crime. In addition, findings highlight protective cultural practices in African American families, especially preparation for bias.
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Justin Dimick et al.
Health Affairs, June 2013, Pages 1046-1053
Abstract:
Research has shown that black patients more frequently undergo surgery at low-quality hospitals than do white patients. We assessed the extent to which living in racially segregated areas and living in geographic proximity to low-quality hospitals contribute to this disparity. Using national Medicare data for all patients who underwent one of three high-risk surgical procedures in 2005-08, we found that black patients actually tended to live closer to higher-quality hospitals than white patients did but were 25-58 percent more likely than whites to receive surgery at low-quality hospitals. Racial segregation was also a factor, with black patients in the most segregrated areas 41-96 percent more likely than white patients to undergo surgery at low-quality hospitals. To address these disparities, care navigators and public reporting of comparative quality could steer patients and their referring physicians to higher-quality hospitals, while quality improvement efforts could focus on improving outcomes for high-risk surgery at hospitals that disproportionately serve black patients. Unfortunately, existing policies such as pay-for-performance, bundled payments, and nonpayment for adverse events may divert resources and exacerbate these disparities.
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Daifeng He, Jennifer Mellor & Eytan Jankowitz
Medical Care Research and Review, June 2013, Pages 287-309
Abstract:
Many studies document disparities between Blacks and Whites in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction on controlling for patient demographic factors and comorbid conditions. Other studies provide evidence of disparities between Hispanics and Whites in cardiac care. Such disparities may be explained by differences in the hospitals where minority and nonminority patients obtain treatment and by differences in the traits of physicians who treat minority and nonminority patients. We used 1997-2005 Florida hospital inpatient discharge data to estimate models of cardiac catheterization, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass grafting in Medicare fee-for-service patients 65 years and older. Controlling for hospital fixed effects does not explain Black-White disparities in cardiac treatment but largely explains Hispanic-White disparities. Controlling for physician fixed effects accounts for some extent of the racial disparities in treatment and entirely explains the ethnic disparities in treatment.
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Gender and White College Students' Racial Attitudes
Justin Smith, Mary Senter & Cherie Strachan
Sociological Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
New forms of racial attitudes among whites, including racial resentment, help to uphold institutionalized inequalities in the United States. As a way to dismantle institutionalized forms of racial inequalities, colleges and universities have implemented various curricula and programs designed to expose students to diversity and reduce social inequalities. This study attempts to uncover the extent to which college experiences affect levels of racial resentment among white students, with emphasis on whether the effects differ for women and men. Findings from a representative sample of students at a large Midwestern university revealed that white men showed higher levels of racial resentment than white women and that their attitudes were significantly affected by many college experiences. By contrast, white women are less affected by aspects of their college experience.
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Sequential Sales as a Test of Adverse Selection in the Market for Slaves
Jonathan Pritchett & Mallorie Smith
Journal of Economic History, June 2013, Pages 477-497
Abstract:
When imported slaves were first sold in New Orleans, buyers were unaware of the slaves' unobservable characteristics. In time, the new owners learned more about their slaves and may have resold the "lemons." Previous research suggests that buyers anticipated such adverse selection and reduced their bids for these slaves. Consequently, we should observe lower prices for resold slaves. We test this proposition by linking the sequential sales records of 568 slaves. Through a comparison of initial and resale prices, we find little evidence to support the hypothesis that adverse selection lowered the price of resold slaves.
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Eliciting Maternal Expectations about the Technology of Cognitive Skill Formation
Flávio Cunha, Irma Elo & Jennifer Culhane
NBER Working Paper, June 2013
Abstract:
In this paper, we formulate a model of early childhood development in which mothers have subjective expectations about the technology of skill formation. The model is useful for understanding how maternal knowledge about child development affects the maternal choices of investments in the human capital of children. Unfortunately, the model is not identified from data that are usually available to econometricians. To solve this problem, we conduct a study where mothers were interviewed to elicit maternal expectations about the technology of skill formation. We interviewed a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged African‐American women. We find that the median subjective expectation about the elasticity of child development with respect to investments is between 4% and 19%. In comparison, when we estimate the technology of skill formation from the CNLSY/79 data, we find that the elasticity is between 18% and 26%. We use the model and our unique data to answer a simple but important question: What would happen to investments and child development if we implemented a policy that moved expectations from the median to the objective estimates that we obtain from the CNLSY/79 data? According to our estimates, maternal investments would go up by between 4% and 24% and the stocks of cognitive skills at age 24 months would subsequently increase between 1% and 5%. Needless to say, the impacts of such a policy would be even higher for mothers whose expectations were below the median.
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Housing, Race, and Recovery from Hurricane Katrina
Rodney Green, Marie Kouassi & Belinda Mambo
Review of Black Political Economy, June 2013, Pages 145-163
Abstract:
The destruction of private and public housing in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina was greatest among African Americans due to historic settlement patterns. Data for 13 planning districts within Orleans Parish (the city of New Orleans proper) that document the extent of housing destruction, the distribution of population by race, and the share of returned population at 2 and 5 year points across these planning districts are evaluated using correlation analysis. The finding is that the return of African Americans to New Orleans is significantly less than that of other groups and is associated with the greater housing destruction in neighborhoods with the highest percentages of African Americans. An analysis of the structure and impact of the Road Home program for private housing and of the initiatives of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Housing Authority of New Orleans provides evidence of racial discriminatory policies and practices that contributed to the racial disparity in the African American return to New Orleans. It is suggested that political leaders paid more attention to the interests of developers and big businesses in the restoration of New Orleans than to the interests of the predominantly black working class in the city.
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Gülseli Baysu, Karen Phalet & Rupert Brown
British Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
From an intergroup relations perspective, relative group size is associated with the quantity and quality of intergroup contact: more positive contact (i.e., intergroup friendship) supports, and negative contact (i.e., experienced discrimination) hampers, minority identity, and school success. Accordingly, we examined intergroup contact as the process through which perceived relative proportions of minority and majority students in school affected minority success (i.e., school performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy). Turkish minorities (N = 1,060) were compared in four Austrian and Belgian cities which differ in their typical school ethnic composition. Across cities, minority experiences of intergroup contact fully mediated the impact of perceived relative group size on school success. As expected, higher minority presence impaired school success through restricting intergroup friendship and increasing experienced discrimination. The association between minority presence and discrimination was curvilinear, however, so that schools where minority students predominated offered some protection from discrimination. To conclude, the comparative findings reveal positive and negative intergroup contact as key processes that jointly explain when and how higher proportions of minority students affect school success.
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Adam Voight, Joanna Geller & Maury Nation
Journal of Early Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
Encouraging student prosocial behavior (PSB) is a challenge for urban middle schools. The issue of student behavior is a racialized one, as Black students generally evince more negative behavioral outcomes than their White peers. This racial "behavior gap" may be conditional on the school environment. This study examines how one element of the school environment - racial composition - affects PSB, drawing on a sample that includes approximately 2,000 Black students and 1,400 White students in 11 urban middle schools in the Southeastern United States. Results of multilevel regression models show that the effect of racial composition on PSB is different for students of different races. As the proportion of Black students in a grade cohort increases, the gap in PSB between Black and White students shrinks and becomes insignificant. The closing of the gap is driven mostly by the declining PSB of White students, while Black students' PSB stays constant. Implications for school practice are discussed.