An Examination of Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Baseball Memorabilia

Gabriel, Paul E.; Johnson, Curtis D.; Stanton, Timothy J.

doi:10.1086/296661

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…This result was partly corroborated by Andersen and Lacroix (1991), who found lower prices for the baseball cards of blacks, though not for Hispanics. On the other hand, Gabriel, Johnson, and Stanton (1995) uncovered little evidence of price differentials in the baseball cards of the different racial groups.…”

Section: What Do We Know About Consumer Discrimination In Pro Spomentioning

confidence: 97%

Racial Discrimination in Professional Basketball: Evidence from Nielsen Ratings

2001

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Using data on Nielsen ratings for locally televised NBA basketball games, we find strong evidence that viewership increases when there is greater participation by white players. This finding controls for a wide variety of other factors that could systematically affect Nielsen ratings, and signifies the presence of customer discrimination in the market for NBA players. We also find that higher Nielsen ratings allow NBA teams to realize greater advertising revenues, meaning that the marginal revenue product of white players exceeds that of comparable black players. This factor explains much of the race‐based salary gap that exists in professional basketball.

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Section: What Do We Know About Consumer Discrimination In Pro Spomentioning

confidence: 97%

Racial Discrimination in Professional Basketball: Evidence from Nielsen Ratings

2001

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“…For further details on the baseball card market, see Nardinelli and Simon (1990) and Andersen andLa Croix (1991). 4Gabriel, Johnson, andStanton (1995) also find no significant evidence of discrimination, but their analysis considers only the prices of rookie cards (those featuring players in their initial season) issued over a period of several years. 5Furthermore, evidence indicates that card supply is correlated with both race and performance in the 1970 Topps card set used by Nardinelli and Simon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer racial discrimination: A reassessment of the market for baseball cards

1999

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Research on the presence of consumer racial discrimination in the baseball labor and memorabilia markets has produced contradictory empirical results. While studies of baseball salaries find no evidence of discrimination, Nardinelli and Simon (1990) and Andersen and La Croix (1991) use data from the baseball card market to show that the price that consumers pay for a card depends on the player's race. In this paper, we reconsider the evidence of consumer discrimination in the baseball card market. Our study improves on previous research by applying more appropriate econometric methods and using a data set in which card supply is constant and incentives for speculative demand are weaker. In contradiction to the aforementioned studies, we find little evidence of racial discrimination. This result proves robust across variable specifications and econometric models.

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“…So far, the examination of ''customer racial discrimination'' in the secondary sports card market has produced a range of contradictory results. Some scholars have identified a racial bias in the prices of minority athletes' sports cards (Andersen and La Croix 1991; Burnett and VanScyoc 2004;Fort and Gill 2000;Gabriel, Johnson, and Stanton 1999;Nardinelli and Simon 1990), while others have found little or no bias, or report mixed results (Gabriel, Johnson, and Stanton 1995;Hewitt et al 2005;McGarrity, Palmer, and Poitras 1999;Messitte and Powell 1995;Mulligan and Grube 2006;Primm et al 2010;Regoli 1991;Regoli, Primm, and Hewitt 2007;Scahill 2005;Stone and Warren 1999).…”

Section: Race and Sports Card Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of the variation may be explained by differences in methodology and sample selection. For example, Nardinelli and Simon (1990) examined the 1970 baseball card set produced by the Topps Company (Topps); Gabriel, Johnson, and Stanton (1999) examined only rookie cards of baseball players produced by Topps between 1974 and1982;Stone and Warren (1999) studied the cards of all players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who were active during the 1976-1977 season and who had retired by 1993; Fort and Gill (2000) analyzed the 1987 Topps baseball card set; Burnett and VanScyoc (2004) studied Topps' cards of all non-pitchers from 1960to 1969Hewitt et al (2005) examined the rookie cards of players who had been elected to baseball's Hall of Fame (HOF) by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA); and Regoli, Primm, and Hewitt (2007) studied the rookie cards of a subset of football HOF members.…”

Section: Race and Sports Card Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Customer Racial Discrimination in the Secondary Baseball Card Market*

Primm

Piquero

Regoli

2011

Sociological Inquiry

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A growing body of literature in a variety of disciplines has appeared over the last 20 years examining customer racial bias in the secondary sports card market; however, consensus on the matter has yet to emerge. In this article, we explore the more subtle ways that a player's race/ethnicity may affect the value of his sports card including a player's skin tone (light- to dark-skinned). Data were obtained for 383 black, Latino, and white baseball players who had received at least one vote for induction into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame including their career performance statistics, rookie card price, card availability, Hall of Fame status, and skin tone. Findings indicate that card availability is the primary determinant of card value while a player's skin tone has no direct effect. Subsequent analysis demonstrates that a player's race (white/non-white) rather than skin tone did have an effect as it interacts with Hall of Fame status to influence his rookie card price.

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An Examination of Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Baseball Memorabilia

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Racial Discrimination in Professional Basketball: Evidence from Nielsen Ratings

Racial Discrimination in Professional Basketball: Evidence from Nielsen Ratings

Consumer racial discrimination: A reassessment of the market for baseball cards

Investigating Customer Racial Discrimination in the Secondary Baseball Card Market*

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