An Alternative Test of Racial Prejudice in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence

Shamena Anwar and Hanming Fang ()
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Shamena Anwar: Department of Economics, YaleUniversity, http://www.econ.yale.edu/

No 1464, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers from Cowles Foundation, Yale University

Abstract: We exploit a simple but realistic model of trooper behavior to design empirical tests that address the following two questions. Are police monolithic in their search behavior? Is racial profiling in motor vehicle searches motivated by troopers' desire for effective policing (statistical discrimination) or by their racial prejudice (racism)? Our tests require data sets with race information about both the motorists and troopers. When applied to vehicle stop and search data from Florida, our tests can soundly reject the null hypothesis that troopers of different races are monolithic in their search behavior, but fail to reject the null hypothesis that none of the racial groups of troopers are racially prejudiced.

Keywords: Statistical Discrimination; Racial Prejudice; Racial Profiling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
Date: 2004-07
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Related works:
Working Paper: An Alternative Test of Racial Prejudice in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence (2005)
Journal Article: An Alternative Test of Racial Prejudice in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence (2006)
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