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Race-Specific Agglomeration Economies: Social Distance and the Black-White Wage Gap

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  • Elizabeth Ananat
  • Shihe Fu
  • Stephen L. Ross

Abstract

We present evidence that benefits from agglomeration concentrate within race. Cross-sectionally, the black-white wage gap increases by 2.5% for every million-person increase in urban population. Within cities, controlling for unobservable productivity through residential-tract-by-demographic indicators, blacks’ wages respond less than whites’ to surrounding economic activity. Individual wage returns to nearby employment density and human capital rise with the share of same-race workers. Manufacturing firms’ productivity rises with nearby activity only when they match nearby firms racially. Weaker cross-race interpersonal interactions are a plausible mechanism, as blacks in all-white workplaces report less closeness to whites than do even whites in all-nonwhite workplaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Ananat & Shihe Fu & Stephen L. Ross, 2013. "Race-Specific Agglomeration Economies: Social Distance and the Black-White Wage Gap," NBER Working Papers 18933, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18933
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Race-Specific Agglomeration Economies: Social Distance and the Black-White Wage Gap
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2014-12-02 18:18:43
    2. Race-Specific Agglomeration Economies: Social Distance and the Black-White Wage Gap
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2014-05-27 19:54:54

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    3. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," 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 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    4. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2017-019 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ingrid Gould Ellen & Stephen L. Ross, 2018. "Race and the City," Working Papers 2018-022, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    6. Ahfeldt, Gabriel M. & Pietrostefani, Elisabetta, 2017. "The compact city in empirical research: A quantitative literature review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 83638, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Topa, Giorgio & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Neighborhood and Network Effects," 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 561-624, Elsevier.
    8. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," 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 247-348, Elsevier.
    9. Klein, Alexander & Crafts, Nicholas, 2015. "Agglomeration Externalities and Productivity Growth : U.S. Cities in the Railroad Era, 1880-1930," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 235, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    10. Alexander Klein & Nicholas Crafts, 2015. "Agglomeration Economies and Productivity Growth: U.S. Cities, 1880-1930," Studies in Economics 1514, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    11. Guangliang Yang & Lixing Li & Shihe Fu, 2020. "Do rural migrants benefit from labor market agglomeration economies? Evidence from Chinese cities," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 910-931, September.
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    15. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1kv8mtgl748r0ahh12air9erdc is not listed on IDEAS
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

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