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Skin Tone Differences in Social Mobility in Mexico: Are We Forgetting Regional Variance?

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  • Monroy-Gómez-Franco, Luis Angel

    (The City College of New York)

  • Vélez-Grajales, Roberto

Abstract

Recent analyses at the national scale have concluded that there is a strong relationship between skin tones and social mobility in Mexico, where darker skin tones are associated with lower rates of relative upward intergenerational mobility compared to the rest of the population. Our paper shows that these estimates, by failing to take into account the effect of regional differences in the distribution of skin tones, tend to overestimate the gap between light and dark skin tones in Mexico. In other words, they overestimate the intergenerational rate of rank persistence for the dark skin population by omitting the effect of differences in regional economic performance. We correct for this factor by analyzing a new data set with information representative at the regional level. Our results suggest that the mobility gap between light and dark skin tone individuals persists after including the regional dimension in the analysis. Throughout the country, light skin individuals have an advantage at moving upwards the socioeconomic scale and remaining at the top compared with the rest of the population. However, the magnitude of the gap varies across regions, being smallest in Mexico City and largest in the North West and South regions of the country. We also find that, regardless of skin tone, individuals with origins in the South face a disadvantage with respect to their peers from the rest of the country. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

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  • Monroy-Gómez-Franco, Luis Angel & Vélez-Grajales, Roberto, 2020. "Skin Tone Differences in Social Mobility in Mexico: Are We Forgetting Regional Variance?," SocArXiv 6rcdt_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:6rcdt_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/6rcdt_v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Eduardo M. Medina-Cortina, 2019. "Skin Color and Social Mobility: Evidence From Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 321-343, February.
    2. Patrick Bayer & Kerwin Kofi Charles, 2018. "Divergent Paths: A New Perspective on Earnings Differences Between Black and White Men Since 1940," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1459-1501.
    3. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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