RACIAL-DIFFERENCES IN MARRIAGE AND THE ROLE OF MARRIAGE MARKETS

This paper examines the role of marriage markets in explaining racial differences in the timing of marriage. Using data from the National Lo ngitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, evidence is present ed on the magnitude and significance of differences in the timing of f irst marriage between whites and blacks in the United States. Further, by matching the 1980 U.S. census to the longitudinal data, the effect on the marriage decision of a variety of measures of the marriage mar ket is examined. This paper examines marriage markets defined at vario us levels of geographic aggregation, alternative definitions of what m ales are considered ''marriageable,'' market variables that control fo r the education level of the participants, and changes over time in ma rriage markets. One of the primary results of the experimentation with various definitions is that, relative to the local level, the variabl es defined at the state level are able to account for more of the raci al differences in the timing of marriage. The paper concludes with an examination of this issue and reveals evidence that suggests that meas urement error in the variables defined at the local level may be under lying this result.