MultiCity Study of Urban Inequality MCSUI

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Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality (MCSUI)

• 1999 Summer Workshop

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URBAN INEQUALITY IN 1999
Andrew Cuomo, the U.S. secretary of housing and
urban development, has been trying to spread the
word that even with the economy booming, and the
Dow hurdling the10,000 barrier, and millionaires
being created at an astonishing rate, there are
still many Americans struggling with the
equivalent of an economic Depression. NY Times
4/9/99
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''Real people are suffering,'' said Cuomo.
.There are many pockets of extreme poverty
across the country. Cuomo spoke of the
continuing poverty of African-Americans in the
inner cities . He spoke of the struggles faced
by poor Hispanic families ....
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Urban Inequality and the MCSUI

• Race and ethnicity
• Economic conditions
• Policy
• Housing

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The Multi-city Study of Urban Inequality

• 4 CITIES
• Detroit
• Atlanta
• Boston
• L.A.

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• 3 Dimensions of Inequality
• Intergroup attitudes
• Residential segregation
• Labor Markets

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• 3 Surveys
• Household survey
• Telephone employer survey
• Face-to-face employer survey

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What will we learn this week?

• Goals
• using the data
• developing ideas/networking
• Overall structure
• Topics each day

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• Materials
• Workbook
• Syllabus, handouts
• Readings
• Codebook

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TODAY Introductions

• The cast of characters
• The project
• The MCSUI cities
• The codebook

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How did the MCSUI project originate?

• Why these dimensions?
• Why these cities?
• Why these questions?
• Why this design?

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I. Why these dimensions? The idea Replication
of 1976 Detroit Area Survey A. The players
1. Ren Farley UMICH 2. UCLA Center for
Poverty Research (Melvin Oliver
Larry Bobo Jim Johnson) B. 1976 DAS
Replication and Expansion
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II. Why these cities? The Meeting June
14-15 A. Sponsors B. Planning Meeting C.
Results
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IV. Why these questions? Why this
design? DESIGN Common goals, different
implementation in each city A. Research teams
in each city B. Bi-annual meetings to design
HH survey
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V. IMPLEMENTATION A. Pilot Study Detroit,
April-Sept. 1992 B. Refinements and
changes 1. Some questions missing for Detroit
C. Additional funding 1. L.A. and Boston 2.
L.A. - 3 grps Chinese, Japanese, Korean
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D. In the field 1. Atlanta June - Nov.
1993 2. Boston May 1993 - Nov. 1994 3.
L.A. Sept. 1993 - Aug. 1994 a) delays
(earthquakes, etc.)
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Table 4i The MCSUI Dataset Distribution of Cases
Across Cities Detroit Atlanta Boston L.A. TOTAL
TOTAL 1543 1528 1820 4025 8916 Whites
728 642 585 835 2790 Blacks 741
824 443 1103 3111 Latino/as 30 30
703 1020 1783 Asians 12 23
34 1055 1124 Other 32 9 55
12 108 Computed from MCSUI 4-city
file. Hispanics are excluded from White, Black,
Asian, and Other categories.
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Geographic Boundaries for the Metropolitan Areas
Comprising the MCSUI Household Survey
Samples Atlanta Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb,
Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and
Rockdale Counties (913,292 HUs) Boston
Boston-Lawrence-Salem MA-NH Consolidated
Metropolitan Area, Massachusetts portion only
(1,440,078 HUs) Detroit Macomb, Oakland, and
Wayne Counties (1,540,237 HUs) L.A. Los Angeles
County (2,989,552 HUs)
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VI. SUMMARY IMPLICATIONS FOR CODEBOOK A.
Different subsamples in cities B. Not all
questions in all cities C. Different wording
and different skip patterns in cities D.
Compromises some topics not covered in great
depth
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The Four MCSUI Metropolitan Areas

• A Brief Introduction

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Detroit
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Detroits economy Post WWII

• Prosperity for Detroits blue-collar workers
• Domination of auto industry, strong unions,
  post-War economic boom
• Benefits to Detroits Black workers
• Black-White male earnings gap lowest in country
  after WWII (85 in Detroit vs. 56 in U.S.)

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Detroits economy 1970-1990

• Hit hard by the industrial restructuring of the
  1970s and 1980s
• Fewer jobs for low skill workers
• Movement of employment to the suburbs
• Increase in Black-White income gap

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Racial conflict
The struggle over which race controlled
neighborhoods, the public schools and local
governmental power was fought in the 1940s, 1950s
and 1960s, but eventually a racial accommodation
was reached namely, the American apartheid
system with the concentration of a very high
proportion of whites in the suburbs while Blacks
remained in the city. (Farley forthcoming 36)
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Chocolate City, Vanilla Suburbs

• Residential segregation higher in Detroit than
  any other metropolitan area in the U.S., 1990
  (Farley and Frey)
• The majority of Blacks live in the city of
  Detroit. The majority of Whites live in the
  suburbs.

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Detroit, Percent Black, 1990
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LEGEND POPULATION COMPOSITION MAPS
lt 10
10-24.9
25-49.9
50-74.9
75-89.9
90-100
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Economic changes since 1970 combine with firmly
established patterns of residential segregation
to make Detroit, in the 1990s, the type of
metropolis the Kerner Commission foresaw in
1968 a low-income black population largely
concentrated within the central city with a more
prosperous white population residing primarily in
the suburban ring (Farley forthcoming 50).
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Atlanta, 1990
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Atlantas economy

• Grew tremendously in the 1980s
• Mean family income grew 21 between 1969-1989,
  compared to a growth of 11 in the U.S.
• Black mecca
• Employment opportunities for Blacks as well as
  Whites

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Residential Patterns

• Majority of Blacks live outside the central city
• Residential segregation still high

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Atlanta, Percent Black, 1990
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LEGEND POPULATION COMPOSITION MAPS
lt 10
10-24.9
25-49.9
50-74.9
75-89.9
90-100
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Spatial mismatch

• 65 of the jobs are located in Atlantas northern
  suburbs
• 71 of Blacks live in the central city and the
  southern suburbs

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The Atlanta Paradox

• Growing economy and high poverty
• City of Atlanta has the 5th highest poverty rate
  in the country

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Some might say that the Atlanta experience is
really no different than other cities. In some
ways that is true. What makes Atlanta unique is
that it is a city of contrasts, between the
perception of racial harmony and the historic and
present residential and employment segregation,
and between the dynamic economy and the growing
economic inequality. (Sjoquist forthcoming 17)
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Boston
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Bostons economy

• The Massachusetts miracle

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Surprising as it may seem to todays visitor to
Boston with its skyline crowded with construction
cranes and gleaming office towers, the Greater
Boston metropolitan region was considered a
veritable urban basket case only two decades ago.
Its central city was hemorrhaging people and the
entire region was losing jobs. Violent crime was
on the rise and the city government was running
out of money..It was a metropolitan area in
distress and in decline. America in the
early 1970s was still celebrating the last of its
post-war glory days --- but the glory seemed to
have passed from Boston well before. (Bluestone
forthcoming 1).
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What is stunning about Boston is how quickly
this history of decline and distress has turned
around. Few now would think of the city or most
of the 154 cities and towns in the Greater
Bostonarea (CMSA) as suffering from anywhere
near the same fate as many of the old
manufacturing cities of the industrial Midwest or
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. To be
sure there are central city neighborhoods that
still have high levels of poverty and distress,
but it is rare to find the wholesale deprivation
and hopelessness that describes parts of Detroit,
Gary, or even Chicago. (Bluestone forthcoming
3).
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Massachusetts Miracle New industrial base

• Services (professional) and FIRE industries
  replaced manufacturing
• Concerted effort to educate and train the
  population

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Economic status of population

• Boston was 1 in the country in fastest growing
  incomes
• Black family income rose by 40 in the 1980s
  (leading the country)

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Poverty in the city of Boston

• Black poverty lower in Boston than average for
  U.S. cities
• Blacks 24
• Whites 14
• Latino and Asian poverty higher in Boston than
  average for U.S. cities
• Latinos 33
• Asians 19

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Residential segregation
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LEGEND POPULATION COMPOSITION MAPS
lt 10
10-24.9
25-49.9
50-74.9
75-89.9
90-100
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Boston Percent Black, 1990
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Boston, Percent Black, 1990
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Boston Percent Latino, 1990
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Boston, Percent Hispanic, 1990
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Rapid economic growth does make a difference ---
for minorities as well as for whites.
Discrimination still exists, housing segregation
is prevalent, and racial and ethnic wage gaps
continue to exist. Nonetheless, the story that
unfolds from the MCSUI data is one quite
different than one might expect if your reference
site was the south side of Chicago or the inner
city of Newark or Detroit. The buoyant labor
market has made it possible for many to find
jobs, even those who live in the poorest, most
segregated neighborhoods in the central city.
(Bluestone forthcoming 11)
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For some, Los Angeles is a daunting megalopolis
that sprawls across a vast terrain, enveloping
its residents in endless traffic jams and often
choking smog. For others, it is the enticing
home to movie stars, sport stars, millionaires,
and exercise fanatics. This aspect of the image
also includes the glamour and glitz of Hollywood,
the towering skyscrapers and power of a downtown
that is the hub of Pacific Rim finance, the
golden beaches of Malibu, and the stately
mansions of Beverly Hills. In this image, Los
Angeles is a city of sun-kissed suburbs, wealth,
leisure, and intrigue.
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It is at the same time home to a burgeoning and
dynamic Latino population, the largest Korean
population outside of Korea and a host of other
Asian ethnic groups, and the largely white and
flinty suburbs of North San Fernando Valley. Los
Angeles is also home to the bitter pain that
erupted into the nations worst race riot at the
intersection of Vermont and Normandy in South
Central. It is the birth place of gansta rap,
and it is the setting for movies such as Boyz N
the Hood and Menace to Society that helped
popularize the phrase drive by shooting.
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In these images, Los Angeles is a city of
ceaseless turmoil brought on by uncontrolled and
rapid change, entrenched ghetto poverty, deadly
violence, and disfiguring racial division. The
juxtaposition of these images suggests that Los
Angeles, simply put, is a city of dreams and a
city of pain. (Bobo, Oliver, Johnson, and
Valenzuela, forthcoming 2).
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L.A. Characteristics

• Rapid economic growth since 1960
• Increasing inequality
• Rapid demographic growth since 1960
• Prismatic metropolis

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L.A. Economic Profile

• Manufacturing robust
• 20 of employment in 1990
• of foreign-born workers in manuf. grew by 280
  between 1970-1990
• Growth of services
• Immigrants in low wage sectors

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• Result proliferation of low-wage and high-wage
  jobs, with fewer jobs in the middle range
• Access to employment varies dramatically by
  race/ethnicity (Bobo et al forthcoming).

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Mean Earnings for Men 25-64, by Ethnicity
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L.A. Residential Segregation Index
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Los Angeles
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LEGEND POPULATION COMPOSITION MAPS
lt 10
10-24.9
25-49.9
50-74.9
75-89.9
90-100
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Los Angeles, Percent Black,1990
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Los Angeles, Percent Black, 1990
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Los Angeles, Percent Hispanic, 1990
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Los Angeles, Percent Hispanic, 1990
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Los Angeles, Percent Asian, 1990
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Los Angeles, Percent Asian, 1990
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Los Angeles is now profoundly, irremediably
ethnic. The issue confronting the region is
whether this newly polyglot metropolis can work.
And that is not a question for the region alone.
In L.A., late twentieth century America finds a
mirror to itself. (Waldinger 1996 446)
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Race/ethnic Composition of the 4 MCSUI Metro Areas
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SUMMARY

• Economic differences
• Population differences
• Differences in political histories

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The Codebook

• An Introduction

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Description Pg 1 Case Control
Variables........... 2 A Residence
and Housing ......................................
................. 5 B Neighborhood
Characteristics ..................................
........ 10 C Demographics and Household
Composition ....................... 19 D Racial
Attitudes and Attitudes about Inequality
................... 33 E Education, Background
and Family Income Structure ......... 45 F Labor
Market Dynamics .................................
.................. 66 G Residential Segregation
..................................................
...... 102 H2 Networks and Social Functioning
........................................ 135
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F3. Of the time you have spent working since you
left school, about how much were you working
full-time? Would you say all or nearly all of
the time, about three-fourths of the time, about
half the time, about a quarter of the time, or
none or nearly none of the time? F3
FLVWKFUL Atl LA Bos Total 0 Logical Skip---0
in F1 5 in F2 164 533 231 928 1 All/Nearly
All 1018 2496 1113 4627 2 Three-Fourths 106 4
14 171 691 3 About Half 93 377 176 646 4 About
One-Fourth 33 135 78 246 5 None/Nearly
None 17 67 43 127 7 Refused 0 1 0 1 8 Don't
Know 2 1 0 3 9 Missing 95 1 8 104 1528
4025 1820 7373
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Tips and Hints about the MCSUI Codebook

• Logical skips
• Forms (split ballots)
• Question wording

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Missing data

• Missing data are usually 9, 99, or 999
• They are not identified as missing by your
  statistical program (STATA, SPSS)
• You must code relevant variables as missing
  before performing exercises

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Assorted Exercises Using the Codebook and
Selecting Variables