Ethnic Sorting in the Netherlands / Institute for the Study of Labor, November 2007
PDF - http://ftp.iza.org/dp3155.pdf
Aslan Zorlu ; Jan Latten
IZA DP No. 3155
"In the past few decades, large numbers of immigrants from less-developed non-western countries have changed the demographic and social composition of the population at the national level. The newcomers are concentrated in the economic urban centres in the Western part of the country, mainly in older neighbourhoods where houses are cheaper. This tendency to spatial concentration in the older urban parts in the country was accelerated by an ongoing selective suburbanisation of natives. Government policies on the national and local levels seek to counteract this tendency. Most policy measures are based on the assumption that the spatial segregation of the poor derives from their individual economic position. This study examines ethnic differences in mobility patterns in the Netherlands and aims to assess the role of observed characteristics and unobserved factors such as preferences and discrimination. In addition to disparities in individual socioeconomic positions, preferences can drive location choice according to the ethnic composition of the neighbourhood."