Racial Differences in Professional Basketball Players' Compensation.

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Labor Economics
Year: 1988
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Pages: 40-61

Authors (2)

Kahn, Lawrence M (CESifo) Sherer, Peter D (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This article investigates racial differences in 1985-86 salaries of individual professio nal basketball players. White and black players earn similar mean com pensation; however, controlling for a variety of productivity and mar ket-related variables and for the endogeneity of player draft positio n, the authors find a significant ceteris paribus black compensation shortfall of about 20 percent. Further, they find that all else equal , including team performance and market factors, replacing one black player with an identical white player raises home attendance by 8,000 to 13,000 fans per season. The compensation and attendance results t ogether are consistent with the idea of customer discrimination. Copyright 1988 by University of Chicago Press.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jlabec:v:6:y:1988:i:1:p:40-61
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25