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What determines school segregation? The crucial role of neighborhood factors

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  • Caetano, Gregorio
  • Macartney, Hugh

Abstract

We develop a novel strategy to identify the relative importance of school and neighborhood factors in determining school segregation. Using detailed student enrollment and residential location data, our research design compares differences in student composition between adjacent Census blocks served by different schools to analogous differences between those schools. Our findings indicate that neighborhood factors explain around 62% of racial segregation and 44% of economic segregation across all schools, playing an even more pronounced role in urban areas, where school segregation has been especially acute. These findings suggest that the involvement of urban planners is essential when attempting to confront inequality of opportunity through education.

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  • Caetano, Gregorio & Macartney, Hugh, 2021. "What determines school segregation? The crucial role of neighborhood factors," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:194:y:2021:i:c:s0047272720301997
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104335
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    1. Stephen B. Billings & Jonah Rockoff, 2014. "School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 435-476.
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    4. Macartney, Hugh & Singleton, John D., 2018. "School boards and student segregation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 165-182.
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    8. Caetano, Gregorio, 2019. "Neighborhood sorting and the value of public school quality," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
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    Cited by:

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    3. Bishop, Kelly C. & Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Mathes, Sophie M. & Murphy, Alvin D., 2024. "The marginal cost of mortality risk reduction: Evidence from housing markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Carroll, Daniel R. & Young, Eric R., 2024. "What explains neighborhood sorting by income and race?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    School segregation; School amenities; Neighborhood amenities; Attendance boundaries; Urban design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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