Household type, economic disadvantage, and residential segregation: empirical patterns and findings from simulation analysis

摘要

In this thesis I focus on segregation between households giving attention to theroles that family type, economic inequality, and race can play in promoting andmaintaining these patterns. I first consider three lines of urban ecological theory thathave been offered to help explain patterns of segregation. One line of theory emphasizesthe role of variation in preferences and needs. The second emphasizes urban structure,market dynamics, and economic inequality, while the third emphasizes the role of race.Research examining the role of consumer preferences in the neighborhood and housingchoices of Americans has documented the salience of preferences regarding housingcharacteristics, neighborhood income, distance to employment, and neighborhood racialcomposition. Related research shows that these preferences vary with socialcharacteristics such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, stage in the life cycle,and household type. I review these literatures and link them with urban ecologicaltheory and the related literatures on social area analysis and factorial ecology. Thesetheories argue that households within a city are likely to cluster together in space basedon mutually shared characteristics and preferences. To explore these theories, I draw oncensus data for Houston, Texas and use the xPx measure to document patterns of contactbetween households based on family type, poverty status, and race. I also decomposethe effects that each of these variables can have separately and in combination with eachother. Following this analysis, I estimate a spatial attainment model that predictscharacteristics of neighborhoods that individuals in each of the race, poverty and familytype groups would live in. Finally, I use computer simulation methods to explore howmicro-level dynamics of housing markets can produce patterns of segregation betweengroups who are similar in their location preferences. Specifically, I explore how thefactors of area stratification and group income inequality can lead to segregationbetween groups who hold similar location preferences.