An examination of customer racial discrimination in the mark

Customer racial discrimination in the market for baseball memorabilia is investigated. Whether a player's ethnic background influences the price collectors are willing to pay for recently issued rookie baseball cards is examined. The empirical analysis of all rookie cards issued from 1984 through 1990 examines if price is explained not only by past player performance but also by other factors such as expected future performance and ethnicity. The possibility is raised that bias could occur because race influences expectations of future performance. However, in contrast to previous studies, the empirical results indicate that price differences are not influenced by race.