Do People Value Racial Diversity? Evidence from Nielsen Ratings
Abstract
Nielsen ratings for ABC's Monday Night Football are significantly higher when the
game involves a black quarterback. In this paper, we consider competing explanations
for this effect. First, quarterback race might proxy for other player or team attributes.
Second, black viewership patterns might be sensitive to quarterback race. Third, viewers
of all races might be exhibiting a taste for diversity. We use both ratings data and
evidence on racial attitudes from the General Social Survey to test these hypotheses
empirically. The evidence strongly supports the taste-for-diversity hypothesis, while
suggesting some role for black own-race preferences as well.
Type
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/2643Collections
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Peter S. Arcidiacono
Professor of Economics
Professor Arcidiacono specializes in research involving applied microeconomics, applied
economics, and labor economics. His research primarily focuses on education and discrimination.
His work focuses specifically on the exploration of a variety of subjects, such as
structural estimation, affirmative action, minimum wages, teen sex, discrimination,
higher education, and dynamic discrete choice models, among others. He recently received
funding from a National Science Foundation Grant for his pro

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