RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 From Dark to Light: Skin Color and Wages Among African-Americans
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 701
OP 738
DO 10.3368/jhr.XLII.4.701
VO XLII
IS 4
A1 Goldsmith, Arthur H.
A1 Hamilton, Darrick
A1 Darity, William
YR 2007
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XLII/4/701.abstract
AB 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.