Migration, Segregation, and Interracial Marriage

Abstract Interracial marriage increased substantially in the late 20th century, concurrently with declines in regional and residential segregation. This paper studies whether these trends are related using two historical quasiexperiments and a stylized model of the marriage market. I use a shift-share instrument to find that the Great Migration increased interracial marriage in receiving communities, though this effect was absent in highly segregated cities. Using railroad density as an instrument, I also find that residential segregation decreased interracial marriage. Together, these findings indicate that internal migration and declining segregation contributed to the rise of interracial marriage in the non-Southern United States.