Essays on Ethnic Segregation and Economic Outcomes

Abstract: Essay 1: This paper studies tipping behaviour in the residential mobility of the native population inSweden between 1990 and 2007. Using regression discontinuity methods, we find that thegrowth in native population in a neighbourhood discontinuously drops once aneighbourhood’s immigrant share exceeds the identified tipping point. In the 1990s the dropcan be attributed both to increased out-migration of natives (native flight) and to thedecreased in-migration of natives (native avoidance) while native flight appears to be drivingthe segregation pattern between the years 2000 and 2007. Further, we find native migrationfrom neighbourhoods that have tipped is selective, in the sense that natives with a high levelof educational attainment are the most likely to move from such neighbourhood. We concludethat the native residential mobility has contributed to increased ethnic segregation but it alsoappears to have increased socio-economic segregation in Sweden between 1990 and 2007.Essay 2: This paper focuses on second-generation immigrants and analyses the short- and long-termeffects of immigrant and ethnic group concentration in childhood neighbourhood on earnings,unemployment, reliance on income support and educational attainment. The results show thata high immigrant concentration in a childhood neighbourhood is negatively associated witheconomic outcomes of both second-generation immigrants and natives. Ethnic groupconcentration seems to work in the opposite direction, improving economic outcomes forsecond-generation immigrants. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of includingtime dynamics in any analysis of the effect of childhood neighbourhood ethnic compositionon economic outcomes.