Towards Equity in Micromobility: Spatial Analysis of Access to Bikes and Scooters amongst Disadvantaged Populations

In recent years, cities around the world have launched various micromobility programs to offer more convenient and efficient mobility options that make transit networks more accessible. However, the question of whether micromobility services are accessible to and equitably distributed amongst all populations still remains unanswered. In this study, we investigate the spatial accessibility of disadvantaged communities, such as racial and ethnic minorities, low-income populations, and transit-dependent populations, to scooter and bike services. The ultimate goal of this study is to examine associations between the level of access to bikes and scooters and the racial and social characteristics of communities throughout the City of Austin, Texas. To achieve this goal, first, equity analysis with a Lorenz curve was performed to understand how bike and scooter accessibility is distributed among the population. Then, both Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) models were generated to explore factors associated with bike and scooter accessibility. The analysis of the residuals showed more consistent results in the GWR models than in the OLS models. The equity analysis with the Lorenz curve conducted herein reveals extreme inequity in access to micromobility services. Almost 80 percent of residents have no access to bikes and scooters. Access is even worse for transit-dependent people when compared to the general population. The regression models further revealed that areas with a higher proportion of Black residents were less likely to have access to both bikes and scooters, yet positive associations were found for both bike and scooter accessibility and low-income populations. Increased understanding of spatial access to bikes and scooters can support ongoing efforts to deliver equitable transportation systems, improve transportation alternatives for disadvantaged populations, and support future policy actions related to bike and scooter services.

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Is Housing Really Unaffordable?

Understanding Affordability ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781529211863.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 17-38

Author(s):

Geoffrey Meen ◽

Christine Whitehead

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Lorenz Curve ◽

Residual Income ◽

The Lorenz Curve ◽

First Time ◽

The Relationship ◽

Different Levels

Most UK households do not face affordability difficulties; those most affected are typically low-income renters and aspiring first-time buyers. However, popularly-used affordability indicators look at the average household position across the country, rather than the distribution across households. Therefore, Chapter 2 discusses the strengths and weaknesses of different affordability measures, including the popular price to earnings or income ratios, the share of expenditure taken by housing and residual income methods. The chapter is critical of these measures and, therefore, proposes two new indicators that provide more information: the first examines the relationship between housing stress and expenditure shares for low-income renters; the second constructs a version of the Lorenz curve for aspiring first-time buyers and shows the proportion of houses that could be afforded by households with different levels of income around the country.

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Understanding Drivers of COVID-19 Racial Disparities: A Population-Level Analysis of COVID-19 Testing among Black and White Populations

Clinical Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/cid/ciaa1848 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Aaloke Mody ◽

Kristin Pfeifauf ◽

Cory Bradley ◽

Branson Fox ◽

Matifadza G Hlatshwayo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Kansas City ◽

Early Period ◽

Limited Resource ◽

Population Level ◽

Black And White ◽

City Regions ◽

Black Residents ◽

Black Populations ◽

The Lorenz Curve ◽

Senior Services

Abstract Background Disparities in COVID-19 testing—the pandemic’s most critical but limited resource—may be an important but modifiable driver of COVID-19 inequities. Methods We analyzed data from the Missouri State Department Health and Senior Services on all COVID-19 tests conducted in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions. We adapted a well-established tool for measuring inequity—the Lorenz curve—to compare COVID-19 testing rates per diagnosed case among Black and White populations. Results Between 3/14/2020 and 9/15/2020, 606,725 and 328,204 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions, respectively. Over time, Black individuals consistently had approximately half the rate of testing per case compared to White individuals. In the early period (3/14/2020 to 6/15/2020), zip codes in the lowest quartile of testing rates accounted for only 12.1% and 8.8% of all tests in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions, respectively, even though they accounted for 25% of all cases each region. These zip codes had higher proportions of residents who were Black, without insurance, and with lower median incomes. These disparities were reduced but still persisted during later phases of the pandemic (6/16/2020 to 9/15/2020). Lastly, even within the same zip code, Black residents had lower rates of tests per case compared to White residents. Conclusions Black populations had consistently lower COVID-19 testing rates per diagnosed case compared to White populations in two Missouri regions. Public health strategies should proactively focus on addressing equity gaps in COVID-19 testing to improve equity of the overall response.

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Validity Evidence of The HOPE Scale in Korea: Identifying Gifted Students From Low-Income and Multicultural Families

Gifted Child Quarterly ◽

10.1177/00169862211024590 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 001698622110245

Author(s):

Hyeseong Lee ◽

Marcia Gentry ◽

Yukiko Maeda

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Confirmatory Factor Analysis ◽

Low Income ◽

Gifted Education ◽

Gifted Students ◽

Factor Loading ◽

Social Characteristics ◽

Confirmatory Factor ◽

Gifted Education Teachers ◽

Low Income Families

The underrepresentation of students from low-income families and of culturally diverse students is a longstanding and pervasive problem in the field of gifted education. Teachers play an important role in equitably identifying and serving students in gifted education; therefore, the Having Opportunities Promotes Excellence (HOPE) Scale was used in this study with a sample of Korean elementary school teachers ( n = 55) and their students ( n = 1,157). Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis results suggested the HOPE Scale shows equivalence of model form, factor loading, and factor variances across different income and ethnic groups. A follow-up interview with teachers ( n = 6) revealed they acknowledged the importance of using the HOPE Scale as an additional method for identifying gifted students; however, they indicated less confidence about rating gifted students’ social characteristics compared with academic components in the HOPE Scale.

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Spatial Accessibility to Local Public Services in an Unequal Place: An Analysis from Patterns of Residential Segregation in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020442 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 442

Author(s):

Yasna Cortés

Keyword(s):

Residential Segregation ◽

Metropolitan Area ◽

Low Income ◽

Public Services ◽

Housing Prices ◽

Spatial Association ◽

Spatial Accessibility ◽

Urban Systems ◽

Local Public Services ◽

Low Income Groups

The study of the relationship between the provision of local public services and residential segregation is critical when it might be the social manifestation of spatial income inequality. This paper analyzes how the spatial accessibility to local public services is distributed equitably among different social and economic groups in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago (MR), Chile. To accomplish this objective, I use accessibility measures to local public services such as transportation, public education, healthcare, kindergartens, parks, fire and police stations, cultural infrastructure, and information about housing prices and exempted housing units from local taxes by block, as well as quantile regressions and bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA). The main results confirm the accessibility to local public services is unequally distributed among residents. However, it affects more low-income groups who are suffering from significant deficits in the provision of local public services. In this scenario, poor residents face a double disadvantage due to their social exclusion from urban systems and their limited access to essential services such as education, healthcare, or transportation. In particular, I found that social residential segregation might be reinforced by insufficient access to local infrastructure that the most impoverished population should assume.

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An empirical comparison of alternative functional forms for the Lorenz curve

Applied Economics Letters ◽

10.1080/13504850110054058 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 171-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kwang Soo Cheong

Keyword(s):

Lorenz Curve ◽

Empirical Comparison ◽

Functional Forms ◽

The Lorenz Curve

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The Contest for Olympic Success as a Public Good

Journal of Income Distribution ◽

10.25071/1874-6322.34371 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Loek Groot

Keyword(s):

Lorenz Curve ◽

Gini Index ◽

World Population ◽

Level Playing Field ◽

Actual Distribution ◽

Playing Field ◽

Inequality Measures ◽

The Rich ◽

The Lorenz Curve ◽

Rich Countries

In this study it is demonstrated that standard income inequality measures, such as the Lorenz curve and the Gini index, can successfully be applied to the distribution of Olympic success. Olympic success is distributed very unevenly, with the rich countries capturing a disproportionately higher share compared to their world population share, which suggests that the Olympic Games do not provide a level playing field. The actual distribution of Olympic success is compared with alternative hypothetical distributions, among which are chosen the distribution according to population shares, the welfare optimal distribution under the assumption of zero government expenditures, and the non-cooperating Nash-Cournot distribution. By way of conclusion, a device is proposed to make the distribution of Olympic success more equitable.

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Foreign capital inflows and economic growth: the experience of low-income countries in Sub Saharan Africa

Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies ◽

10.1108/jcefts-07-2020-0028 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Atif Awad

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Foreign Capital ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Capital Inflows ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Low Income Countries ◽

Content Type ◽

Long Run ◽

Foreign Capital Inflows ◽

The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the long-run impact of selected foreign capital inflows, including aid, remittances, foreign direct investment (FDI), trade and debt, on the economic growth of 21 low-income countries in the Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) region, during the period 1990–2018. Design/methodology/approach To obtain this objective and for robust analysis, a parametric approach, which was dynamic ordinary least squares, and a non-parametric technique, which was fully modified ordinary least squares, were used. Findings The results of both models confirmed that, in the long run, trade and aid affected the growth rate of the per capita income in these countries in a positive way. However, external debt seemed to have an adverse influence on such growth. Originality/value First, this is the initial study that has addressed this matter across a homogenous group of countries in the SSA region. Second, while most of the previous studies regarding capital inflows into the SSA region have focused on the impact of only one or two aspects of such foreign capital inflows on growth, the present study, instead, examined the impact of five types of foreign capital inflows (aid, remittances, FDI, trade and debt).

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