Separate When Equal? Racial Inequality and Residential Segregation

Patrick Bayer, Hanming Fang and Robert McMillan

No 11-09, Working Papers from Duke University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper hypothesizes that segregation in US cities increases as racial inequality narrows due to the emergence of middle-class black neighborhoods. Employing a novel research design based on life-cycle variations in the relationship between segregation and inequality, we test this hypothesis using the 1990 and 2000 Censuses. Indeed, increased black educational attainment in a city leads to a signifi cant rise in the number of middle-class black communities and segregation for older adults both in the cross-section and over time, consistent with our hypothesis. These fi ndings imply a negative feedback loop that inhibits reductions in racial inequality and segregation over time.

Keywords: Segregation; Racial Inequality; Neighborhood Formation; Racial Sorting; General Equilibrium; Negative Feedback (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H0 J7 R0 R2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Separate when equal? Racial inequality and residential segregation (2014)
Working Paper: Separate When Equal? Racial Inequality and Residential Segregation (2005)
Working Paper: Separate When Equal? Racial Inequality and Residential Segregation (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:duk:dukeec:11-09

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