• In June, Sociological Science, a leading journal in sociology research globally, published two papers by Mauricio Bucca, main researcher at the LM²C² Millennium Nucleus and sociology professor at the Catholic University of Chile. One of these papers, "Colorism Revisited: The Effects of Skin Color on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes in the United States," explores the contemporary causal impact of skin color using data from the AddHealth and NLSY97 surveys. Bucca examines its influence on university degree attainment, personal incomes, and family incomes across the United States white, black, and Hispanic populations.

The study confirms a correlation between darker skin tones and poorer socioeconomic outcomes. Employing two causal inference methods—sensitivity analysis to unobserved confounders and fixed effects by family—the research reveals partial evidence of a causal effect of skin color.

El estudio confirma que existe una asociación entre un tono de piel más oscuro y peores resultados socioeconómicos. Utilizando dos estrategias de inferencia causal (análisis de sensibilidad a “confounders” no observados y efectos fijos por familia), el estudio encuentra solo evidencia parcial de un efecto causal del color de piel.

Among the black population, the findings indicate a pervasive penalty associated with being black, irrespective of skin tone. Meanwhile, skin color significantly affects family incomes among Hispanics and university degree attainment among whites. Beyond these causal relationships, the study concludes that the link between skin color and socioeconomic outcomes primarily reflects the historical legacy of racial discrimination in previous generations.

Additionally, Sociological Science recently published another of Mauricio Bucca's studies, "Intergenerational Social Mobility among the Children of Immigrants in Western Europe: Between Socioeconomic Assimilation and Disadvantage," which examines how Western European countries are integrating immigrant populations and their impact on mobility trajectories.