Child-adoption Matching: Preferences for gender and race
Publication Year
2014
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper uses a new dataset on child-adoption matching to estimate the preferences of potential adoptive parents over US-born and unborn children relinquished for adoption. We identify significant preferences favoring girls and against African American children put up for adoption. These attitudes vary in magnitudes across different adoptive parents—heterosexual, same-sex couples, and single women. We consider the effects of excluding single women and same-sex couples from the process, and find that this would substantially reduce the overall number of adopted children. (JEL C78, J13, J15, J16)
Journal
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Volume
6
Pages
133–158
Date Published
jul
ISSN Number
19457790
ISBN
9788578110796
PMID
25246403