Whites' neighbourhood racial preferences and neighbourhood racial composition in the United States: evidence from the multi‐city study of urban inequality

Abstract

Within the housing segregation literature major disagreements have developed over two fundamental issues: (1) the role that whites' aversion to racially mixed neighbourhoods plays in causing modern segregation in the US; and (2) the factors that underlie this aversion, including the effects of inter‐racial contact on whites' neighbourhood racial preferences and whether these preferences reflect neighbourhood stereotyping as opposed to pure racial prejudice. Extant evidence on these issues is either old or indirect. This paper provides direct evidence on these issues using new data from the Multi‐City Study of Urban Inequality. The results suggest that (1) whites' neighbourhood racial preferences play an important role in explaining the racial composition of their neighbourhoods; (2) inter‐racial contact in neighbourhoods and workplaces leads to a greater willingness among whites to live with blacks; and (3) although younger and more educated whites express a stronger taste for integration than other whites, the magnitude of these differences leads to only a small increase in the black percentage of the neighbourhood. In addition, the results provide no evidence in support of the hypothesis that whites stereotype black neighbourhoods rather than blacks per se.

Keywords:

• segregation
• neighbourhood
• 3SLS

Notes

For the purposes of this paper, no distinction is made between whites wishing to live among whites and whites wishing to live away from blacks. Whether whites have a preference for racial homogeneity or a pure distaste for living among blacks is not a subject of this paper.

As noted by a referee, while places of worship may provide racial instruction, they are not usually sites for inter‐racial contact, since organised religion is and has long been one of the most racially and ethnically segregated institutions in American life.