Date of Completion
12-17-2017
Embargo Period
12-12-2027
Advisors
Dr. Jeremy Pais, Dr. Mary J. Fischer, and Dr. Simon Cheng
Field of Study
Sociology
Degree
Master of Arts
Open Access
Open Access
Abstract
Are racial and ethnic groups exposed to different residential conditions as a result of a taste for different housing amenities or a difference in housing accessibility? Using a Blinder-Oaxaca regression decomposition technique this study examines how the housing costs of non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians would differ if each group had the same sociodemographic characteristics as non-Hispanic whites. This provides a window into the housing trade-offs that people make—i.e. the prices householders are willing pay for certain housing amenities—and investigates whether these trade-offs vary by race and ethnicity in ways that signal differential taste or access to different housing amenities. Findings suggest that the different housing and neighborhood outcomes experienced by non-white minorities have little to do with the ways that racial and ethnic groups prioritize the importance of a their neighborhood surroundings. Instead, the structure of the housing market forces non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics to sacrifice more to gain access to the same quality neighborhoods as non-Hispanic whites. This finding suggests that more attention needs to be given to the social mechanism that make some housing units less accessible and more costly for non-white minorities.
Recommended Citation
Riepl, Stuart, "When the Price Isn't Right: Housing Trade-Offs and the Structure of the Housing Market" (2017). Master's Theses. 1174.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/gs_theses/1174
Major Advisor
Dr. Jeremy Pais