NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

An Alternative Test of Racial Prejudice in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence

Shamena Anwar, Hanming Fang

NBER Working Paper No. 11264*
Issued in April 2005
NBER Program(s):   PE

We propose a simple model of trooper behavior to design empirical tests for whether troopers of different races are monolithic in their search behavior, and whether they exhibit relative racial prejudice in motor vehicle searches. Our test of relative racial prejudice provides a partial solution to the well-known infra-marginality and omitted variables problems associated with outcome tests. When applied to a unique data set from Florida, our tests soundly reject the hypothesis that troopers of different races are monolithic in their search behavior, but fail to reject the hypothesis that troopers of different races do not exhibit relative racial prejudice.

*Published: Anwar, Shamena and Hanming Fang. "An Alternative Test of Racial Prejudice in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence." American Economic Review 96, 1 (March 2006): 127-151.

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