Integration vs. White Intransigence - Separate has never been equal

July 17, 2019
The New York Times

"Racial intolerance (and outright racism) seems on the rise, and white-black income and wealth disparities remain very large and have not narrowed in decades. So there is little reason to expect much decline in racial segregation in the near future, particularly given the lack of policy interest in addressing it. Economic segregation likewise shows no sign of declining. So I am currently pessimistic, given today’s political and economic winds, but am more hopeful about the long arc of the future, which I think will ultimately bend toward equality and fairness." Sean Reardon

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Mentioned Publications

We develop and illustrate a general method for describing in detail the joint distribution of race and income among neighborhoods. The approach we describe provides estimates of the average income distribution and racial composition of the neighborhoods of households of a given racial category and specific income level. We illustrate the method using 2007-2011 tract-level data from the American Community Survey. We show, for example, that blacks and Hispanics of any given income level typically live in neighborhoods that are substantially poorer than do whites and Asians of the same income level. Our approach provides a very general method for fully characterizing the joint patterns of racial and socioeconomic segregation, and so may prove useful for understanding the spatial foundations and correlates of racial and socioeconomic inequality.

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