The Racial Wealth Gap and Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods

RePEc Short ID: pal244
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7013-9353

Aliprantis, Dionissi; Carroll, Daniel R.; Young, Eric

doi:10.26509/frbc-ec-202118

Journal Article

The Racial Wealth Gap and Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods

Abstract: Some Black households live in neighborhoods with lower incomes, as well as higher unemployment rates and lower educational attainment, than their own incomes might suggest, and this may impede their economic mobility. We investigate reasons for the neighborhood sorting patterns we observe and find that differences in financial factors such as income, wealth, or housing costs between Black and white households do not explain racial distributions across neighborhoods. Our findings suggest other factors are at work, including discrimination in the housing market, ongoing racial hostility, or preferences by Black households for the strength of social networks or other neighborhood amenities that some lower-socioeconomic locations provide.

Keywords: Diversity;

https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-ec-202118