Understanding Poverty Rate Dynamics in Moderately Poor Urban Neighborhoods: A Competitive Perspective

Chunhui Ren, Hazel Morrow-Jones

The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/aasoci.2014.42008                

Abstract

This study introduces a framework to model moderate-to-high poverty transition in urban neighborhoods using their relative competitive positions within metropolitan areas. Relative competitive position is measured by a variety of neighborhood attributes, including resident and neighborhood characteristics, locational attributes, among others. The model was estimated using the decennial census, using tracts from 1990 and 2000 as proxies for neighborhoods. Results indicate that the competitive model works well as a method to evaluate neighborhood poverty transition. Neighborhoods with relatively unfavorable competitive positions within a metropolitan area experience more poverty growth and therefore are likely to have more concentrated poverty in the future. Based on the results, several recommendations are made to intervene. These include promoting public transit, immigrant assimilation programs, among others.

Keywords

Housing; Community; Minority; Neighborhood; Poverty

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Brueckner, J. (1977). The determinants of residential succession. Journal of Urban Economics, 4, 45-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0094-1190(77)90029-8
[2]	Carter, W. H., Schill, M. H., & Wachter, S. M. (1998). Polarisation, public housing and racial minorities in US cities. Urban Studies, 35, 1889-1911. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0042098984204
[3]	Cohen, C. J., & Dawson, M. C. (1993). Neighborhood poverty and African American politics. American Political Science Review, 87, 286-302. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2939041
[4]	DiPasquale, D., & Glaeser, E. L. (1999). Incentives and social capital: Are homeowners better citizens? Journal of Urban Economics, 45, 354-384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/juec.1998.2098
[5]	Downs, A. (1994). New vision for metropolis America: Why we need a new vision. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
[6]	Eggers, M. L., & Massey, D. S. (1992). A longitudinal analysis of urban poverty: Blacks in U.S. metropolitan areas between 1970 and 1980. Social Science Research, 21, 175-203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0049-089X(92)90014-8
[7]	Ellen, I. G. (2000). Sharing America’s neighborhoods: The prospects for stable, racial integration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[8]	Ellen, I. G., & O’Regan, K. (2007). Reversal of fortunes? Lowerincome urban neighborhoods in the US in the 1990s. Urban Studies, 45, 845-869.
[9]	Fogarty, M. S. (1977). Predicting neighborhood decline within a large central city: An application of discriminant analysis. Environment and Planning A, 9, 579-584. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a090579
[10]	Galster, G. C. (2001). On the nature of neighborhood. Urban Studies, 38, 2111-2124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00420980120087072
[11]	Galster, G. C., Quercia, R. G., Cortes, A., & Malega, R. (2003). The Fortunes of poor neighborhoods. Urban Affairs Review, 39, 205-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1078087403254493
[12]	Hughes, M. (1989). Mispeaking truth to power: A geographical perspective on the “underclass” fallacy. Economic Geography, 65, 187207. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/143834
[13]	Jargowsky, P. (1997). Poverty and place: Ghettos, barrios, and the American city. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
[14]	Jargowsky, P., & Bane, M. J. (1990). GHETTO poverty: Basic questions. In Inner-city poverty in the United States. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
[15]	Jargowsky, P. (2003). Stunning progress, hidden problems: The dramatic decline of concentrated poverty in the 1990s. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
[16]	Kasarda, J. (1993). Inner-city concentrated poverty and neighborhood distress: 1970 to 1990. Housing Policy Debate, 4, 253-302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1993.9521135
[17]	Kingsley, G. T., & Pettit, K. (2003). Concentrated poverty: A change in course. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
[18]	Leven, C., Little, J., Nourse, H., & Read, R. (1976). Neighborhood change: Lessons in the dynamics of urban decay. New York: Praeger Publishers.
[19]	Massey, D., Eggers, M., & Denton, N. (1990). Disentangling the causes of concentrated poverty. Unpublished Paper, Chicago, IL: Population Research Center, NORC/University of Chicago.
[20]	Massey, D. S., & Eggers, M. L. (1990). The ecology of inequality: Minorities and the concentration of poverty, 1970-1980. American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1153-1188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/229425
[21]	Metzger, J. (2000). Planned abandonment: The neighborhood life-cycle theory and national urban policy. Housing Policy Debate, 11, 7-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2000.9521359
[22]	Mincy, R. B., Sawhill, I., & Wolf, D. (1990). The underclass: Definition and measurement. Science, 248, 450-453. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.248.4954.450
[23]	Rosenthal, S. (2007). Old homes, externalities, and poor neighborhoods: A model of urban decline and renewal. Journal of Urban Economics, 63, 816-840. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2007.06.003
[24]	Orfield, M., & Katz, B. (2002). American metropolitics: The new suburban reality. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
[25]	Oreopoulos, P. (2003). The long-run consequences of growing up in a poor neighborhood. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118, 15331575. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/003355303322552865
[26]	Quercia, R. G., & Galster, G. C. (2000). Thresh-old effects and neighborhood change, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 20, 146-162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0739456X0002000202
[27]	Schuler, J., Kent, R., & Monroe, B. (1992). Neighborhood gentrification: A discriminant analysis of a historic district in Cleveland, Ohio. Urban Geography, 13, 49-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.13.1.49
[28]	Scott, A. (1988). Metropolis: From division of labor to urban form. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[29]	Tatian, A. P. (2003). Neighborhood change database: Data users’ guide. http://www.geolytics.com/pdf/NCDB-LF-Data-Users-Guide.pdf
[30]	Temkin, K., & Robe, W. (1996). Neighborhood change and urban policy. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 15, 159-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0739456X9601500301
[31]	Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.