The Effect of Community-Level Socio-Economic Conditions on Threatening Racial Encounters
Document Type
Article
Department
Economics (CMC)
Publication Date
11-2010
Abstract
This paper contributes to the emerging literature on racial and ethnic tension by analyzing the relationship between local socio-economic conditions and the propensity for outsiders to have threatening racial encounters with insiders. We use unique data for a sample of active-duty Army personnel that allow us to first, link personnel to the local communities in which they are located and second, to avoid any selectivity bias associated with endogenous community selection. We find at best mixed evidence that racial hostility is related to economic vulnerability within a community and no evidence that racial conflict can be linked to the level of public expenditure. Crime rates, however, are closely related to the incidence of threatening racial encounters and while a community's demographic profile is also clearly linked to racial tension, these relationships cannot be easily generalized across minority groups or type of threatening racial encounter.
Rights Information
© 2010 Elsevier
Terms of Use & License Information
DOI
10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2010.06.008
Recommended Citation
Antecol, Heather, and Deborah Cobb-Clark. “The Effect of Community-Level Socio-Economic Conditions on Threatening Racial Encounters.” Regional Science and Urban Economics 40.6 (2010): 517-529. doi: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2010.06.008
