Assessing the Causes of Racial Segregation: A Methodological Critique

:This article argues that the two fundamental methodological approaches employed in the existing literature that assesses the causes of racial segregation are suspect, because each potential cause of segregation is viewed as exogenous. Recent illustrations of these approaches are provided. It is then argued that a superior way to view the causes of segregation is as part of a larger, simultaneous system of interrelationships. Preliminary attempts to estimate the parameters of such a system suggest that discrimination plays a larger role than that estimated by conventional techniques.