Work

Do People Value Racial Diversity? Evidence from Nielsen Ratings

Year: 2005

Type: article

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.

Source: Topics in Economic Analysis & Policy

DOI: 10.2202/1538-0653.1396

Authors: Eric M Aldrich, Peter S. Arcidiacono, Jacob L Vigdor

Institutions: University of California, Santa Cruz, National Bureau of Economic Research, Duke University

Language: English

Topic: Sports, Gender, and Society

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2014174387

FWCI:

Cites: 32

Cited by: 15

Related to: 10