School reform alone cannot substantially improve the performance of the poorest African American students. This performance problem must be addressed primarily by improving the social and economic conditions that bring too many children to school unprepared to take advantage of what schools have to offer. Integrating disadvantaged black students…

Using a random sample of 231 married white women in a Southern town, contextual effects of 3 neighborhood variables were investigated in this study. Socioeconomic status (SES), racial composition, and residential mobility were defined, and their effect on racial attitudes was determined. It was found that: (1) high SES housewives were less…

Data gathered within the Kalamazoo Urbanized Area indicate that white attitudes are significantly related to both: (1) the level of interaction between whites and blacks, and (2) the distance between residence and the Negro neighborhood. When control is made for interaction, relationship between attitude and distance is greatly weakened,…

Racial residential segregation has been a persistent feature of the American housing market. At least three distinct theories have been presented to explain this racial segregation. The "class" theory claims that, due to disproportionate overrepresentation of blacks in lower income classes, they will be overrepresented in lower quality housing…

Briefly reviewed in this paper is the literature on racial transition. The review is built around three questions: (1) Where does racial transition take place? (2) How does racial transition proceed in a single neighborhood? and (3) How does racial transition in one neighborhood relate to racial transition in other neighborhoods? Models and…

Racial discrimination and racial segregation resulting from discrimination have an effect upon life in central cities. In central cities the costs of retail business and of housing are often higher than elsewhere. Minority group populations, concentrated in ghettos of central cities, are subect to limited job opportunities. The results of racial…

This paper reviews what is known about the effects of prejudice and discrimination on the urban housing market. Particular attention is given to distinguishing the effects of prejudice from the effects of discrimination. Theories about prejudice and discrimination in the urban housing market are reviewed and tested against available evidence.…

Black migration to American suburbs accelerated from 1970-80, increasing the proportion of Blacks in suburbs throughout the United States. In the North Blacks moved disproportionately into communities with high Black concentrations, while in the South, many Black suburbs experienced an influx of white residents. (Author/IS)

Reports the variations in the black/white ratio of age-specific, all-cause mortality rates among 38 U.S. Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) with populations greater than one million in 1980. Identifies SMSAs containing geographic areas with unusually high or low black/white mortality ratios. (GLR)

Despite beliefs that race is declining in importance within U.S. society, analysis of census data from the southwestern United States indicates continuing residential segregation, even for higher income Blacks. Higher income Hispanics found it easier to leave segregated neighborhoods because Anglos were much less likely to move when Hispanics…

Economists have studied the effects of racial prejudice on urban residential structure using a set of models that focus on conditions at the border between the black and white areas. This paper reviews the theoretical literature on these border models and investigates their generality. Section 1 considers the border model developed by Bailey in…

The debate about the black-white price differential in housing is clarified in this paper. The theoretical literature on this differential is reviewed, and it is shown how the various theories can be tested in a regression of house values on housing characteristics. A properly specified house-value regression leads not only to tests of hypotheses…

Since Americans tend to live together with people of similar occupation and income, and style of life, neighborhoods tend to be composed of people approximately equal in status. But Americans tend also to group together according to race. Negroes are largely contained in neighborhoods seen as low-status--usually as slums. This residential…