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

21 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2004

See all articles by Edward L. Glaeser

Edward L. Glaeser

Harvard University - Department of Economics; Brookings Institution; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Eric A. Hanushek

Stanford University - Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

John M. Quigley

University of California, Berkeley, College of Letters & Science, Department of Economics (Deceased); University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Real Estate Group (Deceased)

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Date Written: January 2004

Abstract

Today, no economist studying the spatial economy of urban areas would ignore the effects of race on housing markets and labor market opportunities, but this was not always the case. Through what can be seen as a consistent and integrated research plan, John Kain developed many central ideas of urban economics but, more importantly, legitimized and encouraged scholarly consideration of the geography of racial opportunities. His provocative (and prescient) study of the linkage between housing segregation and the labor market opportunities of Blacks was a natural outgrowth of his prior work on employment decentralization and housing constraints on Black households. His more recent program of research on school outcomes employing detailed administrative data was an extension of the same empirical interest in how the economic opportunities of minority households vary with location. This paper identifies the influence of John Kain's ideas on different areas of research and suggests that his scientific work was thoroughly interrelated.

JEL Classification: R2, J7, 12

Suggested Citation

Glaeser, Edward L. and Hanushek, Eric A. and Quigley, John M., Opportunities, Race, and Urban Location: The Influence of John Kain (January 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=569884 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.569884

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University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Real Estate Group (Deceased) ( email )

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