Reciprocal Exchange in Native-Immigrant Intermarriage: Evidence from Japan as a Global New Destination

• In Event: Asia and Asian American Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

Native-immigrant intermarriage is a key indicator of integration, yet it often reflects stronger status inequalities than in-group marriages, commonly described as status exchange. Recognizing empirically inconsistent evidence, we introduce the concept of reciprocal exchange: a bidirectional process through which both natives and immigrants trade relative advantages to navigate stratified marriage markets. Using a flexible nonparametric exchange index to address methodological limitations in existing studies, we test educational and age exchange among intermarried couples in Japan, an emerging immigrant destination characterized by delayed marriage and an ethnoracial hierarchy in which the native does not always dominate. Results from Japan’s census microdata reveal two forms of reciprocal exchange: compensatory, in which older and less-educated native men exchange nativity for youth through marriages with immigrant women; and aspirational, in which highly educated natives trade educational advantages for the ethnoracial prestige of Western spouses whose schooling ranks below their coethnic peers. These reciprocal dynamics coexist with strong patterns of homogamy and gendered age exchange, showing that intermarriage both facilitates boundary crossing and reproduces ethnoracial hierarchy. The reciprocal exchange framework connects micro-level partnership formation to macro-level global hierarchies, providing a new lens for understanding how integration and inequality are jointly reproduced in a globalizing world.

Authors

• Hao Liang, Cornell University

• Fumiya Uchikoshi, Harvard University