Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Local Consumer Markets: Exploiting the Army’s Procedures for Matching Personnel to Duty Locations
Date
2006-12
Authors
Cobb Clark, Deborah A
Antecol, Heather
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University
Abstract
We use the exogenous assignment of Army personnel to duty locations to analyze the
relationship between the characteristics of local markets and the propensity for
consumers to be subjected to racial discrimination in their everyday commercial
transactions. Overall, one in ten soldiers report that they or their families have
experienced racial discrimination in finding non-government housing or in patronizing
businesses in their local communities. Discrimination is related to a community’s
demographic profile with white and Asian soldiers feeling more unwelcome in local
businesses as the local population becomes heavily weighted towards other groups.
Moreover, there is evidence that increased economic vulnerability in the community
results in more housing discrimination amongst minorities. While the evidence that
increased competition reduces consumer market discrimination is mixed, it is clear that
discrimination is related to the nature of a soldier’s interaction with the local community.
Description
Keywords
consumer markets,, discrimination, U.S. Military, economics of minorities
Citation
Source
Type
Working/Technical Paper
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access