Recent Evidence on the Continuing Causes of Black-White Residential Segregation

ABSTRACT:

Black-white residential segregation, while on the decline, still persists at high levels in most US metropolitan areas. Despite decades of research into the underlying causes of black-white residential segregation, there is still much disagreement among scholars over the root causes of this phenomenon. This article examines recent evidence on the causes of black-white residential segregation. Evidence on the following hypotheses is examined: racial income differences, racial differences in tastes for housing services, racial differences in housing market information, racial prejudice, and housing market discrimination. Recent evidence suggests that household-level socioeconomic and demographic characteristics explain only a small proportion of the racial differences in location choices. Racial processes such as prejudice and housing market discrimination continue to drive black-white segregation patterns.