The Structure and Growth of Ethnic Neighborhoods

Dai, Tianran and Schiff, Nathan (2021): The Structure and Growth of Ethnic Neighborhoods.

Abstract

We introduce a new statistical definition of an immigrant ethnic neighborhood based on a choice model and using the location distribution of natives as a benchmark. We then examine the characteristics of ethnic neighborhoods in the United States using decadal census tract data from 1970-2010. We find that ethnic neighborhoods are pervasive, often capturing more than 50% of the ethnic population in a city, and differ significantly in housing and demographic characteristics from other locations in the city where a group lives. Most neighborhoods disappear within one or two decades. However, larger neighborhoods persist longer and have a well-defined spatial structure with negative population gradients. Neighborhoods grow primarily through spatial expansion into adjacent locations and lagged measures of the housing stock from previous decades can predict into which specific locations a neighborhood grows.

Maps of ethnic neighborhoods: https://nathanschiff.shinyapps.io/ee_maps_deployed/

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: neighborhoods; ethnic enclave; concentration metrics; housing
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants ; Non-labor Discrimination; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R2 - Household Analysis > R23 - Regional Migration ; Regional Labor Markets ; Population ; Neighborhood Characteristics; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location > R30 - General

References

AARONSON, D., D. A. HARTLEY, AND B. MAZUMDER (2017): “The effects of the 1930s HOLC Redlining maps,” .

ABRAMITZKY, R., L. P. BOUSTAN, AND D. CONNOR (2020): “Leaving the Enclave: Historical Evidence on Immigrant Mobility from the Industrial Removal Office,” NBER Working Paper 27372.

AGARWAL, S., H.-S. CHOI, J. HE, AND T. F. SING (2019): “Matching in housing markets: The role of ethnic social networks,” The Review of Financial Studies, 32(10), 3958–4004.

ALLEN, J. P., AND E. TURNER (1996): “Spatial patterns of immigrant assimilation,” The Professional Geographer, 48(2), 140–155.

ANANAT, E. O. (2011): “The wrong side (s) of the tracks: The causal effects of racial segregation on urban poverty and inequality,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(2), 34–66.

ANSELIN, L. (1995): “Local indicators of spatial association—LISA,” Geographical analysis, 27(2), 93–115.

ASLUND, O., P.-A. EDIN, P. FREDRIKSSON, AND H. GRONQVIST (2011): “Peers, Neighborhoods, and Immigrant Student Achievement: Evidence from a Placement Policy,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.

BAUER, T., G. S. EPSTEIN, AND I. N. GANG (2005): Enclaves, language, and the location choice of migrants,” Journal of Population Economics.

BAYER, P., F. FERREIRA, AND R. MCMILLAN (2007): “A Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods,” Journal of Political Economy, 115(4), 588–638.

BERTRAND, M., E. F. LUTTMER, AND S. MULLAINATHAN (2000): “Network Effects and Welfare Cultures*,” The Quarterly journal of economics, 115(3), 1019–1055.

BILLINGS, S. B., AND E. B. JOHNSON (2012a): “The location quotient as an estimator of industrial concentration,” Regional Science and Urban Economics, 42(4), 642–647.

BILLINGS, S. B., AND E. B. JOHNSON (2012b): “A non-parametric test for industrial specialization,” Journal of Urban Economics, 71(3), 312–331.

BLUMENBERG, E., AND A. E. EVANS (2010): “Planning for demographic diversity: the case of immigrants and public transit,” Journal of Public Transportation, 13(2), 2.

BORJAS, G. (1995): “Ethnicity, Neighborhoods, and Human-Capital Externalities,” The American Economic Review, pp. 365–390.

BOSCH, M., M. A. CARNERO, AND L. FARRE (2010): “Information and discrimination in the rental housing market: Evidence from a field experiment,” Regional Science and Urban Economics, 40(1), 11–19.

CHATMAN, D. G., AND N. KLEIN (2009): “Immigrants and travel demand in the United States: implications for transportation policy and future research,” Public Works Management & Policy, 13(4), 312–327.

CHETTY, R., AND N. HENDREN (2018a): “The impacts of neighborhoods on intergenerational mobility I: Childhood exposure effects,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(3), 1107–1162.

(2018b): “The impacts of neighborhoods on intergenerational mobility II: County-level estimates,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(3), 1163–1228.

CHETTY, R., N. HENDREN, AND L. F. KATZ (2016): “The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment,” American Economic Review.

CUTLER, D., E. GLAESER, AND J. VIGDOR (2008a): “Is the melting pot still hot? Explaining the resurgence of immigrant segregation,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, 90(3), 478–497.

(2008b): “When are ghettos bad? Lessons from immigrant segregation in the United States,” Journal of Urban Economics, 63(3), 759–774.

CUTLER, D. M., AND E. L. GLAESER (1997): “Are ghettos good or bad?,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(3), 827–872.

DAMM, A. P. (2009): “Ethnic Enclaves and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence,” Journal of Labor Economics, 27(2), 281–314.

(2014): “Neighborhood quality and labor market outcomes: Evidence from quasi-random neighborhood assignment of immigrants,” Journal of Urban Economics.

DE BELLEFON, M.-P., P.-P. COMBES, G. DURANTON, L. GOBILLON, AND C. GORIN (2020): “Delineating urban areas using building density,” Journal of Urban Economics, p. 103226.

DURANTON, G., AND H. OVERMAN (2005): “Testing for localization using micro-geographic data,” Review of Economic Studies, pp. 1077–1106.

EDIN, P., P. FREDRIKSSON, AND O. °ASLUND (2003): “Ethnic enclaves and the economic success of immigrants—Evidence from a natural experiment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1), 329–357.

ELLISON, G., AND E. GLAESER (1997): “Geographic Concentration in US Manufacturing Industries: A Dartboard Approach,” Journal of Political Economy, 105(5).

FUJITA, M., P. KRUGMAN, AND A. J. VENABLES (1999): The Spatial Economy. MIT Press.

GLAESER, E. L., AND J. GYOURKO (2005): “Urban Decline and Durable Housing,” Journal of Political Economy, 113(2).

GUIMARAES, P., O. FIGUEIREDO, AND D. WOODWARD (2007): “Measuring the localization of economic activity: a parametric approach,” Journal of Regional Science, 47(4), 753–774.

GUIMARAES, P., O. FIGUEIREDO, AND D. WOODWARD (2009): “Dartboard tests for the location quotient,” Regional Science and Urban Economics, 39(3), 360–364.

HELLERSTEIN, J. K., M. J. KUTZBACH, AND D. NEUMARK (2014): “Do labor market networks have an important spatial dimension?,” Journal of Urban Economics, 79, 39–58.

IOANNIDES, Y. M., AND L. D. LOURY (2004): “Job Information Networks, Neighborhood Effects, and Inequality,” Journal of Economic Literature.

KEEGAN, T. H., E. M. JOHN, K. M. FISH, T. ALFARO-VELCAMP, C. A. CLARKE, AND S. L. GOMEZ (2010): “Breast cancer incidence patterns among California Hispanic women: differences by nativity and residence in an enclave,” Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers, 19(5), 1208–1218.

LAZEAR, E. P. (1999): “Culture and language,” Journal of political Economy, 107(S6), S95–S126.

LIM, S., S. Y. STELLA, N. L. DE LA CRUZ, AND C. TRINH-SHEVRIN (2017): “Defining ethnic enclave and its associations with self-reported health outcomes among Asian American adults in New York City,” Journal of immigrant and minority health, 19(1), 138–146.

LOGAN, J., W. ZHANG, AND R. ALBA (2002): “Immigrant enclaves and ethnic communities in New York and Los Angeles,” American Sociological Review, pp. 299–322.

LOGAN, J. R., J. XU, AND B. STULTS (2012): “Interpolating US Decennial Census Tract Data from as Early as 1970 to 2010: A Longitudinal Tract Database,” Professional Geographer.

MANSON, S., J. SCHROEDER, D. V. RIPER, AND S. RUGGLES (2018): “IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 13.0 Database,” .

MASSEY, D. S. (1985): “Ethnic residential segregation: A theoretical synthesis and empirical review,” Sociology and social research, 69(3), 315–350.

MCMILLEN, D. P. (2001): “Nonparametric employment subcenter identification,” Journal of Urban Economics, 50(3), 448–473.

MORENO-MONROY, A. I., M. SCHIAVINA, AND P. VENERI (2020): “Metropolitan areas in the world. Delineation and population trends,” Journal of Urban Economics, p. 103242.

MORI, T., K. NISHIKIMI, AND T. E. SMITH (2005): “A divergence statistic for industrial localization,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 87(4), 635–651.

MORI, T., AND T. E. SMITH (2013): “A probabilistic modeling approach to the detection of industrial agglomerations,” Journal of Economic Geography, 14(3), 547–588.

MUNSHI, K. (2003): “Networks in the modern economy: Mexican migrants in the US labor market,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(2), 549–599.

OSYPUK, T. L., A. V. D. ROUX, C. HADLEY, AND N. R. KANDULA (2009): “Are immigrant enclaves healthy places to live? The Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis,” Social science & medicine, 69(1), 110–120.

PORTES, A., AND L. JENSEN (1989): “The Enclave and the Entrants: Patterns of Ethnic Enterprise in Miami before and after Mariel,” American Sociological Review.

ROSENTHAL, S. S. (2008): “Old homes, externalities, and poor neighborhoods. A model of urban decline and renewal,” Journal of urban Economics, 63(3), 816–840.

(2014): “Are Private Markets and Filtering a Viable Source of Low-Income Housing? Estimates from a Repeat Income Model,” The American Economic Review, 104(2), 687–706.

SAIZ, A. (2010): “The geographic determinants of housing supply,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(3), 1253–1296.

SAIZ, A., AND S. WACHTER (2011): “Immigration and the Neighborhood,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3(2), 169–88.

SANDERS, J. M., AND V. NEE (1992): “Problems in Resolving the Enclave Economy Debate,” American Sociological Review.

SCHIFF, N. (2015): “Cities and product variety: evidence from restaurants,” Journal of Economic Geography.

VOGEL, K. B., R. GOLDBLATT, G. H. HANSON, AND A. K. KHANDELWAL (2020): “Detecting Urban Markets with Satellite Imagery: An Application to India,” Journal of Urban Economics.

WALDINGER, R. (1993): “The Ethnic Enclave Debate Revisited,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

WONG, M. (2013): “Estimating Ethnic Preferences Using Ethnic Housing Quotas in Singapore,” Review of Economic Studies.