The Disparate Racial Neighborhood Impacts of Metropolitan Economic Restructuring

The economic restructuring of metropolitan areas has had disparate impacts on neighborhoods populated by minority groups. This chapter examines the impacts of the restructuring of the US economy in the 1980s and 1990s on metropolitan neighborhoods occupied by African Americans and compares this to white communities. It examines the determinants of changing poverty rates, the role played by economic restructuring, the disparate racial neighborhood impacts, and the causes of such impacts. The analysis shows that economic restructuring caused significant increases in poverty rates in black communities relative to predominant white communities.