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Research ArticleArticles

From Dark to Light: Skin Color and Wages Among African-Americans

Arthur H. Goldsmith, Darrick Hamilton and William Darity Jr.
Journal of Human Resources, October 2007, XLII (4) 701-738; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.XLII.4.701
Arthur H. Goldsmith
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Darrick Hamilton
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William Darity Jr.
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Abstract

This paper develops and tests a theory, referred to as “preference for whiteness,” which predicts that the interracial (white-black) and intraracial wage gap widens as the skin shade of the black worker darkens. Using data drawn from the Multi City Study of Urban Inequality and the National Survey of Black Americans, we report evidence largely consistent with the theory. Moreover, we decompose the estimated interracial and intraracial wage gaps, and find that favorable treatment of lighter-skinned workers is a major source of interracial and intraracial wage differences as predicted by the theory.

  • Received February 1, 2006.
  • Accepted January 1, 2007.

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Journal of Human Resources
Vol. XLII, Issue 4
2 Oct 2007
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From Dark to Light: Skin Color and Wages Among African-Americans
Arthur H. Goldsmith, Darrick Hamilton, William Darity Jr.
Journal of Human Resources Oct 2007, XLII (4) 701-738; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.XLII.4.701

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From Dark to Light: Skin Color and Wages Among African-Americans
Arthur H. Goldsmith, Darrick Hamilton, William Darity Jr.
Journal of Human Resources Oct 2007, XLII (4) 701-738; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.XLII.4.701
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