Black Residential Centralization and the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis

Black residential centralization is found to be an important determinant of black employment status when estimated across metropolitan areas (MAs) to avoid neighborhood selection. The effects are greatest in large MAs, for the young and elderly, and for individuals with less than a college education. Instrumental variable (IV) estimates support ordinary least squares (OLS) results. Black residential centralization can account for 48-62% of the black-white employment differential among 18-30-year-olds living in large MAs. When estimated together, black residential centralization, job centralization, and segregation all have large effects, but the effects of black centralization and job centralization are considerably larger