IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/15069.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Empirics of Strategic Interdependence: The Case of the Racial Tipping Point

Author

Listed:
  • William Easterly

Abstract

The Schelling model of a "tipping point" in racial segregation, in which whites flee a neighborhood once a threshold of nonwhites is reached, is a canonical model of strategic interdependence. The idea of "tipping" explaining segregation is widely accepted in the academic literature and popular media. I use census tract data for metropolitan areas of the US from 1970 to 2000 to test the predictions of the Schelling model and find that this particular model of strategic interaction largely fails the tests. There is more "white flight" out of neighborhoods with a high initial share of whites than out of more racially mixed neighborhoods

Suggested Citation

  • William Easterly, 2009. "Empirics of Strategic Interdependence: The Case of the Racial Tipping Point," NBER Working Papers 15069, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15069
    Note: POL
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w15069.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benabou, Roland, 1996. "Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth: Macroeconomic Implications of Community Structure and School Finance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 584-609, June.
    2. Card, David & Rothstein, Jesse, 2007. "Racial segregation and the black-white test score gap," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(11-12), pages 2158-2184, December.
    3. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jacob L. Vigdor, 1999. "The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(3), pages 455-506, June.
    4. Aaronson, Daniel, 2001. "Neighborhood Dynamics," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 1-31, January.
    5. Benabou, R., 1992. "Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth," Working papers 93-4, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    6. David Card & Alexandre Mas & Jesse Rothstein, 2008. "Are Mixed Neighborhoods Always Unstable?: Two-Sided and One Sided Tipping," Working Papers 1067, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    7. W. Clark, 1991. "Residential preferences and neighborhood racial segregation: A test of the schelling segregation model," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(1), pages 1-19, February.
    8. Nancy Denton & Douglas Massey, 1991. "Patterns of neighborhood transition in a multiethnic world: U.S. Metropolitan areas, 1970–1980," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(1), pages 41-63, February.
    9. David Card & Alexandre Mas & Jesse Rothstein, 2008. "Are Mixed Neighborhoods Always Unstable? Two-Sided and One-Sided Tipping," NBER Working Papers 14470, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. David Card & Alexandre Mas & Jesse Rothstein, 2008. "Tipping and the Dynamics of Segregation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 177-218.
    11. Roland Benabou, 1993. "Workings of a City: Location, Education, and Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 619-652.
    12. Durlauf, Steven N, 1996. "A Theory of Persistent Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 75-93, March.
    13. Charles T. Clotfelter, 1999. "Are Whites Still "Fleeing"? Racial Patterns and Enrollment Shifts in Urban Public Schools, 1987-1996," NBER Working Papers 7290, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. W. Clark, 1988. "Understanding residential segregation in American cities: Interpreting the evidence," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 7(2), pages 113-121, May.
    15. Charles T. Clotfelter, 2001. "Are Whites Still Fleeing? Racial Patterns and Enrollment Shifts in Urban Public Schools, 1987-1996," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 199-221.
    16. Durlauf,S.N., 2002. "Groups, social influences and inequality : a memberships theory perspective on poverty traps," Working papers 18, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    17. Schelling, Thomas C, 1969. "Models of Segregation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 488-493, May.
    18. George Galster, 1988. "Residential segregation in American cities: A contrary review," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 7(2), pages 93-112, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Geoffrey Heal & Howard Kunreuther, 2010. "Social Reinforcement: Cascades, Entrapment, and Tipping," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 86-99, February.
    2. David Neumark & Timothy Young, 2020. "Heterogeneous Effects of State Enterprise Zone Programs in the Shorter Run and Longer Run," NBER Working Papers 27545, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Korpi, Martin & Halvarsson, Daniel & Öner, Özge & A.V. Clark, William & Mihaescu, Oana & Östh, John & Bäckman, Olof, 2022. "Native Population Turnover & Emerging Segregation: The Role of Amenities, Crime and Housing," Ratio Working Papers 358, The Ratio Institute.
    4. Roy Cerqueti & Luca De Benedictis & Valerio Leone Sciabolazza, 2022. "Segregation with social linkages: Evaluating Schelling’s model with networked individuals," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 384-440, May.
    5. Ouazad, Amine, 2015. "Blockbusting: Brokers and the dynamics of segregation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 811-841.
    6. Henrik Andersson & Heléne Berg & Matz Dahlberg, 2017. "Native Migration Responses to Increased Immigration," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 15(03), pages 26-29, October.
    7. repec:ces:ifodic:v:15:y:2017:i:3:p:50000000000048 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Florent Dubois & Christophe Muller, 2017. "Segregation and the Perception of the Minority," Working Papers halshs-01520308, HAL.
    9. Jessica Pan, 2015. "Gender Segregation in Occupations: The Role of Tipping and Social Interactions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 365-408.
    10. Peter Blair, 2017. "Outside Options (Now) More Important than Race in Explaining Tipping Points in US Neighborhoods," Working Papers 2017-071, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    11. David Card & Alexandre Mas & Jesse Rothstein, 2008. "Tipping and the Dynamics of Segregation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 177-218.
    12. Malone, Thom, 2020. "There goes the neighborhood does tipping exist amongst income groups?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    13. Caetano, Gregorio & Maheshri, Vikram, 2017. "School segregation and the identification of tipping behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 115-135.
    14. Seul-Ki Shin, 2014. "Preferences vs. Opportunities: Racial/Ethnic Intermarriage in the United States," PIER Working Paper Archive 14-040, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    15. David Card, 2007. "How Immigration Affects U.S. Cities," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0711, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    16. Dana Schüler & Julian Weisbrod, 2006. "Ethnic Fractionalization, Migration and Growth," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 148, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Carlos Castro & Cristhian Rodriguez, 2016. "Racial and spatial interaction for neighborhood dynamics in Chicago," Documentos de Trabajo 14589, Universidad del Rosario.
    18. Caetano, Gregorio & Maheshri, Vikram, 2017. "School segregation and the identification of tipping behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 115-135.
    19. David Neumark & Timothy Young, 2021. "Heterogeneous Effects of State Enterprise Zone Programs in the Shorter Run and Longer Run," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 35(2), pages 91-107, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rajiv Sethi & Rohini Somanathan, 2004. "Inequality and Segregation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1296-1321, December.
    2. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & V. Kerry Smith & Christopher Timmins, 2010. "The New Economics of Equilibrium Sorting and its Transformational Role for Policy Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 16349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Bezin, Emeline & Moizeau, Fabien, 2017. "Cultural dynamics, social mobility and urban segregation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 173-187.
    4. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Ross, Stephen L., 2015. "Change and Persistence in the Economic Status of Neighborhoods and Cities," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1047-1120, Elsevier.
    5. Malone, Thom, 2020. "There goes the neighborhood does tipping exist amongst income groups?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    6. Young-Joo Kim & Myung Hwan Seo, 2017. "Is There a Jump in the Transition?," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 241-249, April.
    7. Patrick Bayer & Stephen L. Ross, 2006. "Identifying Individual and Group Effects in the Presence of Sorting: A Neighborhood Effects Application," Working papers 2006-13, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2009.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & Jose Scheinkman, 2000. "Non-Market Interactions," NBER Working Papers 8053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jordi Jofre-Monseny & Matz Dahlberg & Peter Fredriksson, 2012. "On the dynamics of segregation," ERSA conference papers ersa12p832, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Patrick Bayer & Robert McMillan, 2005. "Racial Sorting and Neighborhood Quality," NBER Working Papers 11813, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Bryan S. Graham, 2018. "Identifying and Estimating Neighborhood Effects," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 450-500, June.
    12. Bayer, Patrick & McMillan, Robert & Rueben, Kim, 2003. "An Equilibrium Model of Sorting in an Urban Housing Market: The Causes and Consequences of Residential Segregation," Center Discussion Papers 28503, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    13. Dionissi Aliprantis & Daniel R. Carroll, 2018. "Neighborhood dynamics and the distribution of opportunity," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 247-303, March.
    14. Caetano, Gregorio & Maheshri, Vikram, 2017. "School segregation and the identification of tipping behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 115-135.
    15. Patrick Bayer & Robert McMillan & Kim Rueben, 2003. "An Equilibrium Model of Sorting in an Urban Housing Market: A Study of the Causes and Consequences of Residential Segregation," Working Papers 03-01, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    16. David Card, 2007. "How Immigration Affects U.S. Cities," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0711, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    17. Rajiv Sethi & Rohini Somanathan, 2001. "Racial Income Disparities and the Measurement of Segregation," Urban/Regional 0107001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. John Lynham & Philip R Neary, 2021. "Tiebout Meets Schelling Online: Sorting in Cybercommunities," Papers 2110.05608, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    19. Patrick Bayer & Robert McMillan & Kim Rueben, 2004. "Residential Segregation in General Equilibrium," Working Papers 885, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    20. Logan, Trevon D. & Parman, John M., 2017. "The National Rise in Residential Segregation," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 127-170, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R0 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15069. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.