The Impact of Market Factors on Racial Identity: Evidence from Multiracial Survey Respondents

Osborne Jackson

No 24-13, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Abstract: This paper examines the reported race of multiracial persons in the US Current Population Survey (CPS) before 2003, when limited response options exogenously constrained respondents to identify as a single race. Using this survey attribute and the 16-month longitudinal design of the basic monthly CPS, I explore whether market factors help causally determine racial identity. I find that pre-2003 race responds to state-level (1) racial composition, due largely to household composition, and (2) unemployment rates and wages by race. Although these findings suggest potential endogeneity of race, estimation of how race affects individual-level labor market outcomes indicates minimal bias.

Keywords: racial identity; multiracial; biases; Current Population Survey (CPS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C18 J15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35
Date: 2024-10-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedbwp:99066

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DOI: 10.29412/res.wp.2024.13

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