Benefits and Costs of Interracial Marriage

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Benefits and Costs of Interracial Marriage

• Kofi Acquaah-Arhin, Tim Cornwell, James Harding,
  Peter Olesen

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Introduction

• What is the value of examining interracial
  marriages?
• To better understand why people marry outside of
  their race
• To find out the endogenous and exogenous
  variables involved

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Hypothesis

• The decision to marry outside of ones race
  presents economic and social costs and benefits.

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Recent Trends In Interracial Marriage

• Number of interracial marriages has increased in
  recent years (both in nominal value and percent
  of total marriages)
• However, this number remains a very small
  proportion of all marriages in the United States

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Number of Interracial Marriages in the United
States 1960-1990
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Interracial Marriages as of Total Marriages
Inter-race marriages 1992
Same-race marriages 1992
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Interesting Determinants of Interracial Marriage

• Odds of an individual becoming involved in an
  interracial marriage increase with higher
  educational attainment
• Both men and women from lower status racial
  groups but with higher education levels tend to
  marry spouses from a higher status racial group
  with low education levels
• Blacks and Whites that marry interracially tend
  to have a higher socioeconomic status than those
  who dont
• Hispanics and Asian Americans have higher levels
  of interracial marriage than African Americans
  despite immigration
• Most Interracial Marriages occur in mixed-race
  geographic areas
• Native-born racial minorities are more likely to
  be involved in an interracial marriage than
  foreign-born
• Most interracial marriages involve whites and
  another minority

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Benefits of Interracial Marriage

• Bi-cultural advantage
• Escape from traditional sexual division of labor
• Employment advantages
• Opportunity to find a better match

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Costs of Interracial Marriage

• In-group discrimination
• Out-group discrimination
• Job discrimination
• Residential discrimination
• Identity Loss/Isolation Effect
• Enforcement of traditional division of labor

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Bicultural Advantages

• Higher educational attainment among the couples
• Education weakens racial attachments and
  increases racial contact
• Effect of residential segregation on interracial
  marriage
• Gains from Exchange socio-economic status for
  race status
• -- Educated Minority male marries white female
• -- Marrying up
• Best of Both Cultures

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Escape From Traditional Division of Labor

• Due to the disadvantaged status of minorities in
  the economy, white wives in interracial marriages
  have a better chance of maintaining the
  comparative advantage in market participation.

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Evidence
Census

• Labor Force Participation Rates (LFPR) for
  Wives
• -White Husband-White Wife 57.8
• -Black Husband-White Wife 70.9
• Additional child reduces LFPR of women in white
  endogamous marriages
• by 23 percentage points but LFPR of women in
  other types of marriages by\
• only 10-11 percentage points.
• Husbands earnings have a statistically
  significant reducing effect on the
• LFPR of white women in endogamous marriages
  only.
• Blinder-Oaxaca based decomposition says
  characteristics of wives in
• interracial marriages (e.g. younger, more
  educated) accounts for only
• approximately half of the difference between
  LFPR of wives in interracial
• marriages and LFPR of wives in endogamous
  marriages.

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Opportunity to Find a Better Match

• People who marry outside of race have more
  options when it comes to choosing a marriage
  partner
• Interracial couples are tested before marriage by
  challenges of dating interracially Anne Rambo
• Therefore, we could expect to see lower divorce
  rates of interracial couples than same-race
  couples

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Employment Advantages

• It is possible that members of interracial
  marriages experience employment advantages over
  their counterparts
• Network Building
• Access to new people
• Ability to break down statistical discrimination

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Discrimination Why?

• Akerlof Explanation
• Identity
• Prescriptions
• In group Racism
• Out group Racism
• Inequities for Black Woman and Asian Women
• Fewer Black men and Asian women in proportion to
  their counterparts between ages 20-39, yet they
  tend to date outside of their race more

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Historical Discrimination

• Prior to January 1967, there were
  antimiscegenation laws in Virginia and 18 other
  states
• Loving Supreme Court Case (1959-1967)
• 1965 Gallop Poll 72 Southern whites, 42
  Northern whites wanted to ban interracial
  marriage

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Discrimination in action

• Collective Discrimination was an active tool
  prior to 1967
• Residential Discrimination and Job Discrimination
  are current manifestations
• Job Discrimination concept backed up by Audit
  Studies

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Identity Loss/Isolation Effect

• Types of Identity Loss
• Due to Family and Friends
• Due to General Public
• Due to Self-identity
• Due to Cultural Loss

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Identity loss Due to family and friends

• Family and friends not supportive of interracial
  marriage
• Reinforce social norms
• Must avoid contact with dissenting friends and
  family
• White families less accepting of interracial
  marriage marrying down
• Disruption and loss in their social networks due
  to interracial marriages

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Identity loss Due to general public

• Public discrimination
• Minorities more aware than whites of negative
  reactions to interracial marriage
• Stereotypes against interracial couples
• Fear of public response to interracial marriage
• Pretend not to know each other in certain
  situations

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Self-identity Loss

• More likely to live with a partner of another
  race than to marry one
• Shows that there is still negative stigma
  attached to interracial marriage
• Interracial marriages face higher levels of
  marital conflict and lower marital happiness
• Interracial couples must work harder to make the
  marriage work
• Women more affected by type of marriage than men
  are
• More sensitive to community pressure than men

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Cultural Loss

• Childrens attitudeswhich culture will they
  accept?
• Religion identity and socialization of child
• How do couples culturally identity themselves?
• Couple identity causes the de-emphasis of
  cultural history and ethnic heritage

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Enforcement of Traditional Division of Labor

• Due to the disadvantaged status of minorities in
  the economy, minority wives married to white
  husbands have a smaller chance of maintaining the
  comparative advantage in market participation.

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Evidence
Census
Labor Force Participation Rates (LFPR) for
Wives Black Husband-Black Wife 67.3 White
Husband-Black Wife 68.1
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Conclusions

• There is a link between interracial marriage and
  socio-economic status
• Proportionally, Asians are the minority are most
  likely to marry outside of their race
• What are benefits for one partner can be costs
  for others
• There are benefits based on the fact that
  interracial marriage grew dramatically after 1967

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Further Research Required

• More Detailed Studies
• Data broken up by class
• Audit Studies or Experiments concerning
  residential isolation and job access
• Experiments on Interracial marriage and housing
  opportunity
• How economics of interracial marriage vary for
  the different race/sex combinations
• Studies that reveal earning statistics and
  divorce statistics

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Questions

• Do these costs and benefits influence peoples
  decision making process or does love conquer
  all?
• Do the benefits and costs vary across races?
• How does the decision to marry outside of ones
  race affect the economic future of children?
• Do children of bi-racial marriages experience
  different costs and benefits than children of
  same-race marriages?
• Are these costs and benefits changing?

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Resources
Qian, Zhenchao Variations in Interracial Marriage
between 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census Bureau U.S.
Center for Disease Control Macpherson and Stewart
Racial Differences in Married Female Labor Force
Participation Behavior An Analysis Using
Interracial Marriages