Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/20165 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 928
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper, location choices are driven by households (both blacks and whites) consciously choosing to trade off proximity to neighbors of similar racial backgrounds for proximity to jobs. Because of coordination failures in the location choices, multiple urban equilibria emerge. There is a ?Spatial-Mismatch Equilibrium? in which blacks reside far away from jobs and experience high unemployment rates and a ?Spatial-Matching Equilibrium? in which blacks are closer to jobs and experience lower unemployment rates. Under some reasonable condition, we demonstrate that all workers are better off under the Spatial-Matching Equilibrium, leaving a role for policy intervention.
Subjects: 
spatial mismatch
multiple equilibria
racial preferences
social networks
labor discrimination
JEL: 
R14
J15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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