Racing for Dollars

A Columbia study of 400 students in speed dating sessions concluded: “Women of all races exhibit strong same race preferences, while men of no race exhibit a statistically significant same race preference.”

Another University of Chicago and MIT study of 22,000 online daters found women preferred same race relationships 2:1 over men: 38% of women and 18% of men prefer same race dates. The study also computed tradeoffs between a partner’s attributes.

For equal success with a white woman an African American man needs to earn $154,000 more than a white man. Hispanic men need an additional $77,000 and Asian men $247,000. “In contrast to men, women mostly cannot compensate for their ethnicity with a higher income.”

Table shows additional annual income that a man needs to compensate for his ethnicity if he wants to date a partner of a different ethnic group. Baselines incomes are $62,500 for men. For example, an Asian man wanting to date a White woman would need to make an additional $247,000 (i.e. $309,500) a year to be as desirable as a White man who earns $62,500.

ETHNICITY / INCOME TRADE OFFS

Source: “What Makes You Click- Mate Preferences and Matching Outcomes in Online Dating,” by Gunter Hitsch and Ali Hortacsu of the University of Chicago and Dan Ariely of MIT.