Explaining cross-racial differences in teenage labor force participation: Results from a two-sided matching model
Abstract
White teenagers are substantially more likely to search for employment than black
teenagers. This differential occurs despite the fact that, conditional on race, individuals
from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to search. While the racial wage gap
is small, the unemployment rate for black teenagers is substantially higher than that
of white teenagers. We develop a two-sided search model where firms are partially
able to search on demographics. Model estimates reveal that firms are more able to
target their search on race than on age. Employment and wage outcome differences explain
half of the racial gap in labor force participation rates. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All
rights reserved.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6940Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.jeconom.2009.09.017Publication Info
Ahn, T; Arcidiacono, P; Murphy, A; & Swinton, O (2010). Explaining cross-racial differences in teenage labor force participation: Results
from a two-sided matching model. Journal of Econometrics, 156(1). pp. 201-211. 10.1016/j.jeconom.2009.09.017. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6940.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Peter S. Arcidiacono
William Henry Glasson Distinguished 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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