Social and economic consequences of black residential segregation by neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics : The case of Metropolitan Detroit

Although research has been done by social scientists on the inability of blacks to use income, like whites, to purchase a home or to rent an apartment in a less disadvantaged neighbourhood, we argue that most past researchers have been limited in the variables they have used to characterise neighbourhoods. Most researchers have overwhelmingly used a single variable – median income. We argue that a single variable is not sufficient to capture the life experiences of children and adults in neighbourhoods. By including multiple variables and a Composite Socioeconomic Index to characterise neighbourhoods, our approach provides a more realistic assessment of the differences blacks and whites experience in separate and unequal neighbourhoods, even though they may have similar incomes. Thus different neighbourhoods have different social and economic consequences for black and white residents.