The Ecology of Racial Discrimination in Housing

This research investigates the spatial variation in racial housing market discrimination. Using 1980 data for Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Ohio), regression analysis indicates that compared to integrated or majority-black tracts with stable 1970-1980 racial compositions, all-white tracts, and especially transitional tracts evidencing large gains in proportion of black residents, have higher discrimination rates, ceteris paribus. These findings support the hypotheses that housing agents discriminate when they fear losing business from their prejudiced white customers and when they can exploit an unstable situation characterized by relatively high white/black housing demand elasticity ratios.