Opportunities, Race, and Urban Location: the Influence of John Kain

No economist studying the spatial economy of urban areas today would ignore the effects of race on housing markets and labor market opportunities, but this was not always the case. John Kain developed much of urban economics but, more importantly, legitimized and encouraged scholarly consideration of the geography of racial opportunities. His provocative study of the linkage between housing segregation and the labor market opportunities of Blacks arose from his work on employment decentralization and constraints on Black residential choice. His later research program on school outcomes was similarly focused in how the economic opportunities of minority households vary with location. John Kain’s scientific work forms a legacy linked by the study of the urban disadvantaged.