How Racial Measures Affect the Estimation of Racial Inequality

Although racial inequalities are much researched, studies differ on the specific measure of individuals’ racial identity that they consider. This can affect the comparability of results across studies and, more importantly, the estimation of racial inequality in society. We estimate the extent of racial inequalities using four common measures of individuals’ race. Analyzing the same set of individuals, results confirm that estimated racial inequalities vary greatly depending on the measure of race considered. The endogeneity of measured race with respect to socioeconomic status seems to account for part of the variation in estimated racial inequalities across the four race measures