Measuring economic segregation in the US-Metropolitan areas

Abstract

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on “Income Ethnical Segregation” by constructing an index that analyses US Census Data from 1990 until 2010. Following the groundwork of the “SSI” the results can be considered as decomposable and thus also subgroup consistent. The evidence for the biggest 10 MA shows a clear increase of segregation and inequality even though average income climbs as well throughout the years. Same implies that significant differences amongst races have been observed that were especially revealed for the poorer MA such as Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA. As the “Income Ethnical Segregation” can be seen as one component of the overall score of the Entropy Index, which consists of the “Within – Inequality part” and the “Between – Segregation part”, it goes hand in hand with previous assumptions that a higher segregation also estimates higher inequality. The reader will not only be guided through the various indicators and empirical evidence for the case, but moreover also learn about practical application of previously established indices based on the Theil-Between Index. Thus, the main takeaway will be an understanding of the scientific requirements and its empirical application additional to the real analysis on US-Microdata timeseries, when working with segregation measures that include the problematic and continuous variable that is “Income”.