The Race to the Suburb: The Location of the Poor in a Metropolitan Area

Charles de Bartolome () and Stephen Ross

No 2002-02, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: We provide an explanation for the stylized fact that poor households are concentrated in the inner city of most U.S. metropolitan areas. We consider a metropolitan area with an inner city surrounded by a suburb and two income classes. Using numerical simulations, we show that two equilibria typically exist: one in which the inner city has a majority of poor households and the other in which it has a majority of rich households. We argue that the growth path selects the former equilibrium because rich households "jump" to the suburb before poor households "spill" into the suburb. In addition, the model provides an explanation for gentrification: at large metropolitan populations, population growth causes rich households in the city to live in areas previously inhabited by poor households.

Keywords: urban; equilibria; poor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H73 R12 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2002-08, Revised 2008-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-pbe and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2002-02

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