scholarly journals The Land of the ‘Fair Go’? Mapping Income Inequality and Socioeconomic Segregation Across Melbourne Neighbourhoods

Author(s):  
Michelle Sydes ◽  
Rebecca Wickes

AbstractDespite enduring political rhetoric that promotes Australia as ‘the lucky country’ and ‘the land of the fair go’, recent decades have seen a noticeable increase in levels of income inequality. This growing economic divide has driven housing prices up and left lower-income families unable to access the housing market in inner-city locations. In contrast to other countries, Australia’s socioeconomic segregation does not overlap with ethnic segregation. Australia’s highly regulated immigration program has resulted in a relatively well-educated and employable foreign-born population who largely reside in middle-income neighbourhoods. These particularities make Australia an interesting context to explore patterns of socioeconomic segregation over time. In this chapter, we will utilise both traditional measures of segregation (such as the dissimilarity index) as well more spatialised measures (such as location quotients and Local Morans I) to assess socioeconomic segregation at the local level. Drawing on four waves of census data (2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016), we explore how socioeconomic segregation has changed over time across nearly 500 neighbourhoods in Melbourne. We further examine the degree to which socioeconomic segregation aligns with ethnic segregation patterns and levels in this city. We find patterns of socioeconomic segregation remain relatively unchanging over time in Melbourne. Additionally, our findings highlight important differences in patterns and levels of socioeconomic and ethnic segregation in the Australian context.

Author(s):  
Haley McAvay ◽  
Gregory Verdugo

AbstractIn the last decades, the Paris metro area has experienced important structural changes linked to rising income inequality and a rapidly growing immigrant population. Using census data from 1990, 1999 to 2015, this chapter explores these transformations and how they have shaped trends in residential segregation. We find that the occupational structure of the area shifted upwards in the recent decade with a substantial increase in the share of the top occupational groups. This trend, however, did not primarily concern the immigrant population, which nonetheless experienced a growth in the middle class. These trends were further accompanied by an increase in income inequality driven by rising wages among the top 1% earners. Despite these changes, dissimilarity indexes between socioeconomic groups and between natives and immigrants have remained quite stable over the period. However, interaction indexes suggest that neighbourhoods are becoming more homogenous over time, both in terms of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity. Finally, the findings shed light on the correlation between socioeconomic and immigrant segregation. Socioeconomic disadvantage and the presence of immigrants within neighbourhoods, especially of non-European origin, are tightly correlated, and that correlation became stronger over time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 687-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Müller-Crepon ◽  
Philipp Hunziker

Research on ethnic politics and political violence has benefited substantially from the growing availability of cross-national, geo-coded data on ethnic settlement patterns. However, because existing datasets represent ethnic homelands using aggregate polygon features, they lack information on ethnic compositions at the local level. Addressing this gap, this article introduces the Spatially Interpolated Data on Ethnicity (SIDE) dataset, a collection of 253 near-continuous maps of local ethno-linguistic, religious and ethno-religious settlement patterns in 47 low- and middle-income countries. We create these data using spatial interpolation and machine learning methods to generalize the ethnicity-related information in the geo-coded Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). For each DHS survey we provide the ethnic, religious and ethno-religious compositions of cells on a raster that covers the respective countries at a resolution of 30 arc-seconds. The resulting data are optimized for use with geographic information systems (GIS) software. Comparisons of SIDE with existing categorical datasets and district-level census data from Uganda and Senegal are used to assess the data’s accuracy. Finally, we use the new data to study the effects of local polarization between politically relevant ethnic groups, finding a positive effect on the risk of local violence such as riots and protests. However, local ethno-political polarization is not statistically associated with violent events pertaining to larger-scale processes such as civil wars.


Author(s):  
Janet L. Smith ◽  
Zafer Sonmez ◽  
Nicholas Zettel

AbstractIncome inequality in the United States has been growing since the 1980s and is particularly noticeable in large urban areas like the Chicago metro region. While not as high as New York or Los Angeles, the Gini Coefficient for the Chicago metro area (.48) was the same as the United States in 2015 but rising at a faster rate, suggesting it will surpass the US national level in 2020. This chapter examines the Chicago region’s growing income inequality since 1980 using US Census data collected in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2015, focusing on where people live based on occupation as well as income. When mapped out, the data shows a city and region that is becoming more segregated by occupation and income as it becomes both richer and poorer. A result is a shrinking number of middle-class and mixed neighbourhoods. The resulting patterns of socioeconomic spatial segregation also align with patterns of racial/ethnic segregation attributed to historical housing development and market segmentation, as well as recent efforts to advance Chicago as a global city through tourism and real estate development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 866-897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad R. Farrell ◽  
Barrett A. Lee

The United States is experiencing a profound increase in racial and ethnic diversity, although its communities are experiencing the trend differently depending on their size and location. Using census data from 1980 to 2010, we focus on a subset of highly diverse local jurisdictions in which no ethnoracial group makes up more than half of the population. We track the prevalence, emergence, and characteristics of these no-majority places, finding that they are rapidly increasing in number and are home to substantial and growing shares of the Black, Latino, and Asian populations. Transitions in no-majority places varied considerably over time. Older cohorts of places that became no-majority decades ago moved toward Latino or Black majorities, whereas those in recent cohorts tended to persist as no-majority places. Most of these communities continued to diversify in the decades after first becoming no-majority and remain quite diverse today. However, the shift toward no-majority status was often accompanied by large White population declines.


Author(s):  
Alexandra López Martínez ◽  
Owen Eli Ceballos Mina

AbstractResidential segregation is both a cause and consequence of socioeconomic inequalities. Since the 1990s, segregation patterns in Latin American cities have changed significantly. This is related to major urban transformations caused by privatization policies related to urban development, commercialization, and real estate activity. The main purpose of this chapter is to study residential socioeconomic segregation in the city of Bogotá, Colombia in 2005, using educational attainment as an indicator of socioeconomic status while considering the drivers of segregation during the 1990s. We also introduce a brief analysis of the relationship between residential segregation and inequality based on a model that allows replicating the income distribution of the population using census variables. This chapter shows that residential segregation in Bogotá is related to per capita income inequality, however, segregation may be caused by the dynamics of land and housing markets rather than inequality.


Author(s):  
Kimberley Fung-Loy ◽  
Anton Van Rompaey

AbstractIncome inequality has steadily increased in Suriname and it is considered to be at one of the highest levels in the Caribbean. This chapter analyses socio-economic and ethnic segregation between 2004 and 2012 in the Greater Paramaribo Region in Suriname. To investigate the link between income inequality and socio-economic segregation, occupation is used as a proxy for socio-economic status. The Dissimilarity Index is used to evaluate the level of segregation between different socio-economic and ethnic groups. The link between ethnicity and socio-economic status is also analysed. Results show that the highest level of socio-economic segregation exists between the higher socio-economic group (top occupational categories) and the lower socio-economic group (bottom occupational categories). It was also found that even though the Region is ethnically diverse, different ethnic groups tend to concentrate in different neighbourhoods. These segregated ethnicities are in turn linked to the higher and lower level socio-economic groups.


Author(s):  
Zhuolin Pan ◽  
Ye Liu ◽  
Yang Xiao ◽  
Zhigang Li

AbstractChina’s rapid economic growth since the early 1980s has been accompanied by a substantial increase in economic inequality. Economic restructuring, rural–urban migration, globalization and marketization have jointly led to a transformation of the socio-spatial structure of large Chinese cities. Although a handful of studies have examined the level and pattern of socioeconomic segregation in a particular Chinese city using neighbourhood-level census data from the year 2000, little research has been done to investigate in-depth changes in the level and pattern of segregation using more up to date and more geographically detailed data. This chapter aims to examine the levels, patterns and drivers of socioeconomic segregation in Shanghai, China, using neighbourhood-level and subdistrict-level data from the 2000 and 2010 decennial population census. This chapter uses the dissimilarity index to measure the overall level of socioeconomic segregation by occupation and household registration (hukou) status. Based on a location quotient and neighbourhood composition, it also illustrates the change in the spatial pattern of segregation. The chapter ends with a discussion on the possible drivers of segregation and policy suggestions to combat segregation in large Chinese cities.


Author(s):  
Meredith Nichols ◽  
Junior Chuang ◽  
Sara Grimwood ◽  
Geoff Hynes ◽  
Jean Harvey ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe majority of Canadians live in cities, which have experienced rising income inequality. This study examines how socio-economic inequalities in health system outcomes vary across and within Canada’s major cities over time to better understand these differences and to support informed decision-making and public policy planning to reduce inequalities. Objectives and ApproachThis study links a range of hospitalization indicators with neighbourhood income quintile and city geography data using patient postal codes and Statistics Canada’s Postal Code Conversion File Plus (PCCF+). Age-standardized indicator rates were calculated and income-related health inequalities were summarized using disparity rate ratio (DRR), disparity rate difference (DRD) and relative concentration index (RCI). Data were pooled across five-year intervals and linked to Census data years (2006, 2011, and 2016). City (Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs)) and sub-city (Census Subdivisions (CSDs)) results enabled comparisons within and across cities and provided local level information to strengthen measuring and monitoring of health inequalities. ResultsAnalysis of the age-standardized rates for the hospitalization indicators (Hospitalizations for COPD (less than 75 years), Heart Attacks, Injury, Stroke, Self-Injury, Opioid Poisoning, Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions, and Hospitalizations Entirely Caused by Alcohol), overall and by neighborhood income quintile revealed an income gradient and significant variations within and across the CMAs and over time. Variations in DRR, DRD and RCI results were also observed across the CMAs over time, and between the CSDs within a CMA. Income-related inequalities in some hospitalization indicators persisted in Canada’s major cities with trends showing that people from lower income neighbourhoods experienced increased rates of hospitalization compared to people from higher income neighbourhoods. Conclusion/ImplicationsThis is the first study examining socio-economic health inequalities at city and sub-city levels across Canada. The methods used are relevant to others interested in local health inequality measurement. Our analysis provides evidence for developing and targeting public policy and health interventions to improve outcomes for vulnerable populations within cities.


Author(s):  
Gerhard Bosch ◽  
Thorsten Kalina

This chapter describes how inequality and real incomes have evolved in Germany through the period from the 1980s, through reunification, up to the economic Crisis and its aftermath. It brings out how reunification was associated with a prolonged stagnation in real wages. It emphasizes how the distinctive German structures for wage bargaining were eroded over time, and the labour market and tax/transfer reforms of the late 1990s-early/mid-2000s led to increasing dualization in the labour market. The consequence was a marked increase in household income inequality, which went together with wage stagnation for much of the 1990s and subsequently. Coordination between government, employers, and unions still sufficed to avoid the impact the economic Crisis had on unemployment elsewhere, but the German social model has been altered fundamentally over the period


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Anderson ◽  
Ing-Haw Cheng ◽  
Harrison Hong

Bill Gates recently argued that philanthropy by households at the top of the income distribution might help ameliorate income inequality, and that tax policies should take this into account. Much of the research in economics on giving has been focused on middle-income households, so we know very little about the motives for giving by the very rich. We provide some initial evidence on what drives the giving of the richest Americans. First, we extrapolate anthropological evidence on how status concerns might influence philanthropy. Second, since the richest own a significant amount of equity, we use the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Act of 2003 to see how their giving responded to unanticipated tax cuts, particularly for dividends. Third, we consider the welfare implications of philanthropy as opposed to alternative models for redistributing the wealth of the extremely rich.


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