Racial Inequality and Segregation Measures: Some Evidence from the 2000 Census

How much of the observed segregation between black and white Americans can be attributed to income disparities between the two groups? We adopt an approach to the decomposition of segregation measures that combines the method of indirect standardization with the idea that some degree of segregation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Review of Black political economy 2009-06, Vol.36 (2), p.79-91
Main Authors: Sethi, Rajiv, Somanathan, Rohini
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Census
Censuses
Cities
Economic Policy
Economics
Economics and Finance
Income Inequality
Indexes (Measures)
Inequality
Neighborhoods
Political Science
Race
Residential segregation
Segregation
Sociology
Studies
U.S.A
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Summary:How much of the observed segregation between black and white Americans can be attributed to income disparities between the two groups? We adopt an approach to the decomposition of segregation measures that combines the method of indirect standardization with the idea that some degree of segregation is the outcome of purely random processes. Using the dissimilarity index as a measure of segregation and data on race and income from US metropolitan areas for 2000, we find that the role played by racial income inequality in accounting for segregation is modest but varies significantly across cities.
ISSN:0034-6446
1936-4814
DOI:10.1007/s12114-009-9042-6