Wage Differentials and the Mating Taboo 1970-1980

Abstract

This paper studies the role ofthe mating taboo (distaste for intermarriage) in explaining the narrowing mean wage gaps between intermarried and intramarried black men. A search framework is extended to incorporate agents' races. To offset the mating taboo, agents who intennany raise selection criterion; such selection behavior implies that the conditional expected intermarriage output can exceed the conditional mean intramarriage output. Samples of newlyweds from the 1970-1980 Census are used to examine the wage gap response to the mating taboo. After controlling for self-selection, the predicted positive mean wage gap for college educated black men diminishes from 1970 to 1980, while it rises for high-school dropouts. The mating taboo accounts for most of the mean wage gap for a11 education levels between 1970 and 1980. In particular, the magnitude of the mating taboo declines from 1970-1980 for college graduates but increases for high-school dropouts. (D!O, JIS, Jl2)