Is Racial Salary Discrimination Disappearing in the NBA? Evidence from Data during 1985-2015

Hisahiro Naito and Yu Takagi

Tsukuba Economics Working Papers from Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Abstract: This study re-examines racial salary discrimination of National Basketball Association players by constructing a long unbalanced panel covering the 1985--1986 to 2015--2016 seasons. Contrary to the results of previous studies, we find that non-white players are paid equally to white players with similar characteristics in the 1980s and 1990s, but that white players started to be paid 20 percent more than non-white players in the last 10 years. Our results are robust in all specification checks such as the quantile regressions, controlling the sample selection and controlling different contract types. Non-parametrically estimated density of the counter-factual salary of non-white players confirms our results. In addition, we find that neither the employers preference nor income gap of white and black fans explain this increasing salary gap.

Date: 2016-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Is racial salary discrimination disappearing in the NBA? evidence from data during 1985–2015 (2017)
Working Paper: Is Racial Salary Discrimination Disappearing in the NBA? Evidence from Data during 1985--2015 (2017)
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