The Role of Own-Group Density and Local Social Norms for Ethnic Marital Sorting: Evidence from the UK

We exploit the post-war immigration-induced regional variation in ethnic composition among British-born individuals to study inter-ethnic marriages in the UK. Black and Asian individuals are more likely to marry intra-ethnically in regions where the own ethnicity share is relatively large. In order to disentangle the relative roles played by supply effects, preferences and local social norms we estimate a structural marriage market model that allows for conformity behaviour. Using the estimated model, we make predictions for a set of more recent cohorts whose marital choices are still to be completed.