Skin Tone and Inequality of Socioeconomic Outcomes in Mexico: A Comparative Analysis Using Optical Colorimeters and Color Palettes

We study the association between skin tone and socioeconomic outcomes in Mexico. Previous studies have relied on subjective measures of skin tone, but these may suffer from measurement error and bias from “money lightening” effects, and they do not include other physical attributes, which could lead to overestimation. We use a new data source in Mexico specifically designed to address these challenges, including an objective measurement of skin tone based on optical colorimeters. We find that the estimates of the association between skin tone and socioeconomic outcomes are consistent across data collection techniques (interviewer-rated, self-rated, machine-rated) and surveys. Around half of the association is explained by differences in socioeconomic background, a finding that emphasizes the importance of considering both historically accumulated disadvantages and current mechanisms of generating inequality. We also find that phenotypical characteristics other than skin tone (eye and hair color) are significant predictors of socioeconomic outcomes. These findings suggest that more than a strict pigmentocracy, where light skin is the only element or the definitive one, ethnoracial stratification in Mexico may be better characterized in a broader sense: as one where people with a set of racialized physical features linked to European origins have greater accumulated privilege and social advantages than those with features linked to Indigenous or Black ancestry.