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Abstract:
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MANAGING URBAN SPRAWL: DOES GROWTH MANAGEMENT REDUCE THE WHITE/BLACK INCOME GAP? A LOOK AT MEDIUM-SIZED METROPOLITAN AREAS Monica Candelaria Bosson, B.A. Thesis Advisor: Sencer Ecer, Ph.D ABSTRACT In an attempt to combat the consequences of urban sprawl, many states, counties, and localities have begun enacting legislation to manage the growth that occurs in their areas. The basic question I want to explore in the current essay is whether changing the physical form of a community through urban growth management influences the quality of life of the community, and, when coupled with low-income housing policies, can have a beneficial effect on racial inequities in an urban area. In particular, I test in this essay whether growth management programs that are implemented at the regional or state and include low-income housing policies alleviate income inequality across white and black populations. The results of the econometric analysis performed in this essay indicate that growth management strategies might have a direct, albeit mild, effect on white/black income gaps. This finding is in line with my hypothesis. However, although all of the specifications in this essay yielded negative coefficients, only one was found to be statistically significant. This leads me to conclude that the relationship between growth management and racial income disparities might be more complicated that I originally thought. Further research is needed to generate more definitive results. |