Sanne Boschman

Neighbourhood selection of non-Western ethnic minorities: testing the own-group effects hypothesis using a conditional logit model

The selective inflow and outflow of residents by ethnicity is the main mechanism behind ethnic residential segregation. Many studies have found that ethnic minorities are more likely than others to move to ethnic minority concentration neighbourhoods. An important question which remains largely unanswered is to what extent this can be explained by own group preferences, or by other neighbourhood or housing market factors. By using longitudinal register data from the Netherlands, this study contributes to the literature on neighbourhood selection by ethnic minorities in two ways. First, it distinguishes between different ethnic minority groups where most studies look at the group as a whole. Second, it takes into account multiple dimensions of neighbourhoods where most other studies look at neighbourhoods one-dimensionally, which allows us to test the own group preferences hypothesis. Using a conditional logit model we find that housing market constraints can partly explain the selection of ethnic minorities into minority concentration neighbourhoods. Also own-group preferences are found to be important in explaining neighbourhood selection. There are, however, differences between ethnic minority groups. Own-group preferences and housing market constraints together explain why Surinamese and Antilleans select into minority concentration neighbourhoods. When these factors are taken into account, Turks and Moroccans are still found to select into concentration neighbourhoods of ethnic minorities other than their own ethnic group.

Residential Segregation and Interethnic Contact in the Netherlands

Dutch policy-makers perceive high shares of ethnic minorities in neighbourhoods as a problem; it might generate fewer opportunities for minorities to have contact with the native Dutch population and thereby hinder integration. The question, however, is whether the ethnic composition of neighbourhoods influences interethnic contact. In this paper, the focus is on the leisure contact of people from ethnic minorities aged 15 to 65 with native Dutch people. Binary logistic multilevel analysis shows that contact with native Dutch people is mainly explained by individual characteristics. In addition, living in one of the four largest cities—cities with high shares of minorities at the city level—leads to less contact with native Dutch people. The ethnic composition of the neighbourhood has no effect on contact, therefore segregation at the neighbourhood level does not necessarily hinder integration.

Incorporating Neighbourhood Choice in a Model of Neighbourhood Effects on Income

Studies of neighborhood effects often attempt to identify causal effects of neighborhood characteristics on individual outcomes, such as income, education, employment, and health. However, selection looms large in this line of research, and it has been argued that estimates of neighborhood effects are biased because people nonrandomly select into neighborhoods based on their preferences, income, and the availability of alternative housing. We propose a two-step framework to disentangle selection processes in the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and earnings. We model neighborhood selection using a conditional logit model, from which we derive correction terms. Driven by the recognition that most households prefer certain types of neighborhoods rather than specific areas, we employ a principle components analysis to reduce these terms into eight correction components. We use these to adjust parameter estimates from a model of subsequent neighborhood effects on individual income for the unequal probability that a household chooses to live in a particular type of neighborhood. We apply this technique to administrative data from the Netherlands. After we adjust for the differential sorting of households into certain types of neighborhoods, the effect of neighborhood income on individual income diminishes but remains significant. These results further emphasize that researchers need to be attuned to the role of selection bias when assessing the role of neighborhood effects on individual outcomes. Perhaps more importantly, the persistent effect of neighborhood deprivation on subsequent earnings suggests that neighborhood effects reflect more than the shared characteristics of neighborhood residents: place of residence partially determines economic well-being.

Individual differences in the neighbourhood level determinants of residential satisfaction

Abstract Residential satisfaction is a key variable in understanding residential mobility. Many researchers have studied the individual level and neighbourhood level determinants of satisfaction, however, very few have studied which neighbourhood characteristics affect satisfaction for whom. In this paper, ordered logit models are estimated, explaining satisfaction from neighbourhood characteristics, personal characteristics and interactions. These interactions test whether neighbourhood characteristics have similar effects on satisfaction for all individuals, or whether individual characteristics affect the size and direction of these effects. Satisfaction is found to be less affected by the share of ethnic minorities for ethnic minorities than for natives, because minorities are more satisfied in neighbourhoods with higher shares of their own ethnic group. Neighbourhood characteristics are found to have a stronger effect on satisfaction for owner-occupiers and parents with children than for others, however the impact of neighbourhood ethnic composition does not vary with tenure or household type.

Residential choices of foreign highly skilled workers in the Netherlands and the role of neighbourhood and urban regional characteristics

In the international competition for talent, local and national policy makers are keen to better understand the location choices of highly skilled workers in order to design more effective policies geared towards the group’s attraction and retention. In this study, we explain whether and to what extent the local living environment, in particular characteristics at the neighbourhood and urban regional level, affect the residential choices of foreign highly skilled workers. We make use of register data from Statistics Netherlands on the residential locations of all of these migrants who entered the Netherlands between 2000 and 2009. We combine this dataset with data on relevant characteristics at the neighbourhood level as well as with relevant amenities and labour market characteristics at the regional level. We estimate a negative binomial regression model to test which characteristics of neighbourhoods and urban regions are associated with high inflows of foreign highly skilled workers at the neighbourhood level. We find that, besides labour market characteristics, the characteristics of the local environment do matter for location choices of foreign highly skilled workers in the Netherlands. This group tends to settle in higher income, inner city neighbourhoods that offer a high degree of urban vibe. Furthermore, residential choices differ between single and multi-person households and change with duration of stay in the country.

Ethnic differences in realising desires to leave urban neighbourhoods

Selective mobility into and out of urban neighbourhoods is one of the main driving forces of segregation. Earlier research has found group differences in who wants to leave or who leaves certain types of neighbourhoods. A factor that has received little attention so far is that some residents will have a desire to leave their neighbourhood, but are unable to do so. If there are differences between population groups in the realisation of desires to leave the neighbourhood, this might lead to involuntary segregation. This paper uses a unique combination of register data and survey data. We combine data from a large housing survey in the Netherlands (WoON) with longitudinal register data from the Netherlands (SSD) which contains individual-level information on residential mobility histories. This allows us to study whether households with a desire to leave their neighbourhood do realise this desire and which households are successful in leaving which neighbourhoods. A more thorough insight in who wants to leave which neighbourhoods but is unable to do so will contribute to a better understanding of selective mobility and segregation. We find that ethnic minorities and low-income households are less likely to realise a desire to leave their neighbourhood. We expected that ethnic minorities would be especially unsuccessful in realising desires to leave minority concentration neighbourhoods; however, for none of the ethnic groups we found an effect of neighbourhood ethnic composition on the realisation of desires to leave.