Highlights of 2011 - Institute for Policy Research - Northwestern ...

Urban Policy and Community Development
Three Segregations and Concentrated
Urban Poverty
Research published in the American Sociological Review by
Quillian finds that blacks and Hispanics tend to have neighbors
from other racial groups who are disproportionately likely to
be poor, even for high-income black and Hispanic households.
This contributes importantly to the high poverty rates of the
neighborhoods lived in by black and Hispanic families and
to high poverty rates in the schools attended by black and
Hispanic children. Quillian analyzed data from the 2000 census
and found that the disproportionate poverty of blacks’ and
Hispanics’ neighbors who are of other races plays an important
role in creating racial disparities in neighborhood poverty. He
develops a model to mathematically decompose sources of
poverty concentration as a product of demographic conditions
including forms of segregation. He finds that concentrated
poverty in minority communities results from three segregations:
racial segregation, poverty-status segregation within race, and
segregation from high- and middle-income members of other
racial groups. Past work has emphasized racial segregation and
poverty-status segregation within race, but has missed the
important role played by the disproportionately low-income
levels of different-race neighbors of blacks and Hispanics.
Quillian concludes that we need to consider the complex
combination of race and income segregation in policies to
reduce poverty concentration.
Dynamic Models of Race and Income
Segregation
Housing trends in many U.S. cities clearly reflect decades of
racial segregation. But why do current residents continue to
relocate along racial lines? Quillian is examining the modernday
causes of urban racial segregation in a project with Elizabeth
Bruch of the University of Michigan. One hypothesis is that
a community’s racial make up directly affects the decision to
move—or not to move—to a certain community, either due
to prejudice or to a preference for living among neighbors of
one’s own race. A second hypothesis is that race only appears
to matter because it is associated with other characteristics
that do matter to households, such as school quality or poverty
and crime rates. To test these hypotheses, Quillian and Bruch
have developed new methods for modeling residential mobility
across neighborhoods. Their discrete choice models incorporate
multiple characteristics of destination neighborhoods, thus
improving the model’s realism in replicating residential decision
making. Preliminary results suggest that racial composition is a
major factor in residential mobility decisions, even controlling
for housing prices, economic status, and other factors of the
communities to which people move. The research is supported
by the National Institutes of Health.
About the Program
Lincoln Quillian, Chair
IPR’s Urban Policy and Community Development
faculty examine the shifting landscape of urban
life, considering myriad issues related to today’s
urban experience. Additionally, many IPR faculty
work on projects that are closely tied to urban
policy in areas such as education, housing, welfare
reform, community policing, and performance
measurement and rewards.
Inequality in France and the United
States
Focusing on inequalities found in neighborhoods and institutions
between France and the United States, 25 researchers came
together for a two-day workshop to discuss issues related to
education, health, and employment. Held on June 23–24, the
second annual transnational workshop was co-sponsored by IPR
and Science Po’s Observatoire Sociologique du Changement
(OSC) and took place at Northwestern University.
The opening panel examined the relationship between
neighborhoods and education. In France, a recent reform now
allows students to apply to go to any public school within their
district. The hope was that it would send more disadvantaged
students to better schools. Yet from interviews and a comparison
of the reform’s effects in two départements (counties), one
more advantaged than the other, OSC sociologist Marco
Oberti and professor emeritus Edmond Préteceille find the
reform has instead destabilized the system. Not only has it
failed so far to create more educational opportunities for lowincome
students, it also seems to be contributing to growing
stratification between schools.
In the United States, levels of residential segregation are typically
higher than in France. IPR social psychologist Thomas D. Cook
and IPR postdoctoral fellow Coady Wing discussed the results
of three experiments with the Housing Choice Voucher
Program, also referred to as “Section 8,” the main U.S. housing
program for low-income families. Averaging around $7,600
per family a year, this federal program amounts to $40 billion
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