The problem of housing market discrimination and racial disparities in mortgage lending has taken on a new level of urgency ("Blacks, Hispanics Remain Most Likely to Be Denied Home Loans," 1992; Brenner, 1992; Zuckoff, 1992). Researchers and scholars, as well as federal officials, have begun to...

One explanation for the widening of racial earnings gaps among family heads during the 1980s is that black families were increasingly headed by females during that period. This explanation is tested using data on black and white family heads in 1976 and 1985 from the Institute for Research on...