What determines school segregation? The crucial role of neighborhood factors

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Caetano, Gregorio; Macartney, Hugh
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; University of Georgia; Duke University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104335
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: School segregation; School amenities; Neighborhood amenities; Attendance boundaries; Urban design

摘要

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. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.