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NOTE FROM EDITORS: As Skeptic Publisher Michael Shermer writes in his Introduction to this special issue on Race Matters, the issues outlined in this article documenting the continuation of systemically [...]

From 1986 to 2008 the undocumented population of the United States grew from three million to 12 million persons, despite a five-fold increase in Border Patrol officers, a four-fold increase [...]

Nancy Denton and I published 'The Dimensions of Residential Segregation' in 1988, during the early phases of a multiyear project funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human [...]

Byline: Douglas S. Massey (1), William G. Axinn (2), Dirgha J. Ghimire (2) Keywords: Environment; Population; Migration; Land cover; Agricultural productivity Abstract: Scholars and activists have hypothesized a connection between environmental change and out-migration. In this paper, we test this hypothesis using data from Nepal. We operationalize environmental change in terms of declining land cover, rising times required to gather organic inputs, increasing population density, and perceived declines in agricultural productivity. In general, environmental change is more strongly related to short- than long-distance moves. Holding constant the effects of other social and economic variables, we find that local moves are predicted by perceived declines in productivity, declining land cover, and increasing time required to gather firewood. Long-distance moves are predicted by perceived declines in productivity, but the effect is weaker than in the model of short-distance mobility. We also show that effects of environmental change vary by gender and ethnicity, with women being more affected by changes in the time required to gather fodder and men by changes in the time to gather firewood, and high-caste Hindus generally being less affect than others by environmental change. Author Affiliation: (1) Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA (2) Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106-1248, USA Article History: Registration Date: 16/07/2010 Online Date: 01/08/2010

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00724.x Byline: Jonathan T. Rothwell (1), Douglas S. Massey (2) Abstract: Objectives. Socioeconomic segregation rose substantially in U.S. cities during the final decades of the 20th century, and we argue that zoning regulations are an important cause of this increase. Methods. We measure neighborhood economic segregation using the Gini coefficient for neighborhood income inequality and the poor-affluent exposure index. These outcomes are regressed on an index of density zoning developed from the work of Pendall for 50 U.S. metropolitan areas, while controlling for other metropolitan characteristics likely to affect urban housing markets and class segregation. Results. For both 2000 and changes from 1990 to 2000, OLS estimates reveal a strong relationship between density zoning and income segregation, and replication using 2SLS suggests that the relationship is causal. We also show that zoning is associated with higher interjurisdictional inequality. Conclusions. Metropolitan areas with suburbs that restrict the density of residential construction are more segregated on the basis of income than those with more permissive density zoning regimes. This arrangement perpetuates and exacerbates racial and class inequality in the United States. Author Affiliation: (1)The Brookings Institution (2)Princeton University

The rise in subprime lending and the ensuing wave of foreclosures was partly a result of market forces that have been well-identified in the literature, but it was also a highly racialized process. We argue that residential segregation created a unique niche of minority clients who were differentially marketed risky subprime loans that were in great demand for use in mortgage-backed securities that could be sold on secondary markets. We test this argument by regressing foreclosure actions in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas on measures of black, Hispanic, and Asian segregation while controlling for a variety of housing market conditions, including average creditworthiness, the extent of coverage under the Community Reinvestment Act, the degree of zoning regulation, and the overall rate of subprime lending. We find that black residential dissimilarity and spatial isolation are powerful predictors of foreclosures across U.S. metropolitan areas. To isolate subprime lending as the causal mechanism through which segregation influences foreclosures, we estimate a two-stage least squares model that confirms the causal effect of black segregation on the number and rate of foreclosures across metropolitan areas. We thus conclude that segregation was an important contributing cause of the foreclosure crisis, along with overbuilding, risky lending practices, lax regulation, and the bursting of the housing price bubble. Keywords segregation, foreclosures, race, discrimination DOI: 10.1177/0003122410380868

Using data from Mexico's Matricula Consular program, we analyze the geographic organization of undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. We show that emigration has moved beyond its historical origins in west-central Mexico into the central region and, to a lesser extent, the southeast and border regions. In the United States, traditional gateways continue to dominate, but a variety of new destinations have emerged. California, in particular, has lost its overwhelming dominance. Although the geographic structure of Mexico-U.S. migration is relatively stable, it has nonetheless continued to evolve and change over time. Key Words: Mexico, Mexican Immigration, Geography, Undocumented Migration, Migrant Origins, Migrant Destinations, Migration Flows. Este articulo analiza la geografia de los inmigrantes mexicanos indocumentados en los Estados Unidos utilizando datos del Programa de Matricula Consular de Mexico. Se muestra que la emigracion se ha movido mas alla de los origenes historicos del occidente de Mexico hacia la region central y, en un menor grado, al sureste y region fronteriza. En los Estados Unidos, las regiones tradicionales de destino continuan dominando, pero una nueva variedad de destinos han surgido. En particular, California ha perdido su dominio abrumador. Aunque la estructura geografica de la migracion Mexico-Estados Unidos es relativamente estable, esta ha continuado evolucionando y cambiando a traves del tiempo. Palabras clave: Mexico, inmigracion mexicana, geografia, migracion de indocumentados, origenes migratorios, destinos de la migracion, rutas migratorias. DOI: 10.1525/msem.2010.26.1.129

The nature and organization of segregation shifted profoundly in the United States over the course of the twentieth century. During the first two-thirds of the century, segregation was defined by the spatial separation of whites and blacks. What changed over time was the level at which this racial separation occurred, as macro-level segregation between states and counties gave way steadily to micro-level segregation between cities and neighborhoods. During the last third of the twentieth century, the United States moved toward a new regime of residential segregation characterized by moderating racial-ethnic segregation and rising class segregation, yielding a world in which the spatial organization of cities and the location of groups and people within them will increasingly be determined by an interaction of race and class and in which segregation will stem less from overt prejudice and discrimination than from political decisions about land use, such as density zoning. Keywords: segregation; African Americans; Latinos; Asians; class; race; ethnicity DOI 10.1177/0002716209343558

The authors argue that anti-density zoning increases Black residential segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas by reducing the quantity of affordable housing in White jurisdictions. Drawing on census data and local regulatory indicators compiled by Pendall, the authors estimate a series of regression models to measure the effect of maximum density zoning on Black segregation. Results estimated using ordinary least squares indicate a strong and significant cross-sectional relationship between low-density zoning and racial segregation, even after controlling for other zoning policies and a variety of metropolitan characteristics, a relationship that persists under twostage least squares estimation. Both estimation strategies also suggest that anti-density zoning inhibits desegregation over time. Keywords: segregation; zoning; African-American; race; housing

The authors measure cumulative quantity of time spent in various neighborhoods to study effect of neighborhood on an adult's economic self-reliance. Findings reveal that neighborhood does have effect on earnings and employment.

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00490.x Byline: Mariano Sana (1), Douglas S. Massey (2) Author Affiliation: (1)Louisiana State University (2)Princeton University

In this article, the authors first give attention to main factors that resulted in the passage of NAFTA and subsequently investigate Mexican migration to the United States during roughly the same period that the bilateral treaty has been in effect. At the center of the relationship between economic liberalization and immigration is the paradox of increasing capital mobility and attempts at controlling more tightly the movement of immigrant workers. Although immigration from Mexico has remained flat over the past ten years, the Mexican population in the United States has grown rapidly, partly as a result of the unanticipated effects of harsh immigration policies since 1986. Prior to that date, Mexicans engaged in cyclical movements, but as security measures became harsher, especially in the 9/11 period, more immigrants and their families settled in the United States hoping to avert the dangers of exit and reentry. This analysis shows the slanted function of borders that have become permeable for capital but increasingly restrictive for immigrants. Keywords: Mexican Migration Project; NAFTA; Immigration Reform and Control Act; undocumented migrants

The National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF) data is used to study African American immigrants and natives attending selective colleges and universities in the United States. Results revealed few differences in the social origins of African American students from immigrant and native backgrounds.

Although affirmative action programs for minority students form just one of several criteria for preferential admissions to American colleges and universities, little research has compared the impact of other large 'affirmative actions' programs such as those for athletes and legacies. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF), a sample of nearly 4,000 students in 28 elite American colleges and universities, we develop models that test claims about the effects of affirmative action--namely mismatch hypothesis and stereotype threat--on college performance in three groups: minorities, athletes, and legacies. First, we estimate models predicting two direct and indirect effects suggested by stereotype threat: hours studied per week and the degree of psychological performance burden reported by students. Next we include these direct and indirect measures of stereotype threat and the mismatch hypothesis on grades earned through the end of sophomore year and the likelihood of leaving school by spring of junior year. We do not find strong evidence for the mismatch hypothesis as applied to minorities and athletes, although legacies who enjoyed a greater admissions bonus earned lower grades. Minorities attending institutions that practice greater affirmative action were less likely to drop out but did report lower grades. We also find that legacies and athletes who attend a school that practices institutional affirmative action are indeed more likely to drop out of school. Keywords: affirmative action, higher education, stereotype threat, legacy students, student athletes.

Aristide Zolberg's new book, A Nation by Design, offers the most comprehensive treatment of US immigration policy ever undertaken and is a major piece of scholarship that will prove indispensable [...]

Newly available data from two surveys--the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles survey, and the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study in San Diego--are used to test the assertion [...]

Beginning in 1987, Peru imposed a regime of structural adjustment to transform its economy along neoliberal lines. This analysis suggests that a shift resulted in the odds of international migration and the motivations for leaving among inhabitants of Peru's largest labor market. Before 1987, under the regime of import substitution industrialization, jobs at wages capable of sustaining a basic standard of living were widely available; those few who left the country self-selected for higher human capital and moved abroad to improve their earnings. Under neoliberalism, however, both employment and wages fell to levels that made it difficult for families to sustain themselves. In response, households--with the assistance of friends and relatives with foreign experience--diversified their labor portfolios away from the local job market structural adjustment zones. The number of migrants then rose, the diversity of foreign destinations increased, and migration became less selective with respect to human capital. Keywords: structural adjustment; Peru; networks; neoliberalism; international migration; urban labor markets; social capital

In this study we draw upon data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, a representative survey of nearly 4,000 men and women entering college in the autumn of 1999, to consider the effects of housing and school segregation during childhood on academic performance in college. We show that black and Latino college students, even those enrolled in the nation's most selective academic institutions, display large differences in background and experiences that are strongly conditioned by racial segregation. Those coming of age in a segregated environment were less prepared academically and socially for college life, and were more exposed to violence and social disorder while growing up. After documenting these differences, we estimate regression models to predict academic performance as a function of the minority composition of the neighbourhoods and schools where respondents lived ages 6-18, controlling for a variety of individual and family characteristics as well as the correlates of segregation. Keywords: Segregation; higher education; minority students; academic performance.

This article presents arguments and data to show that the decennial census and annual Current Population Surveys include immigrants falling into four broad legal status groups: naturalized citizens; legal immigrants; legal nonimmigrants; and undocumented migrants. Since 1986, the relative rewards and penalties imposed on these four categories have shifted dramatically in response to U.S. policies, as have the relative number of foreigners in each group. In general, the relative share of foreigners in the most vulnerable status groups has increased, with the proportion of undocumented migrants and legal nonimmigrants rising and that of legal immigrants falling. Researchers using census and CPS data need to be aware of the shifting distribution of foreigners by legal status over time and of the changing profile of opportunities experienced by each status group, and they need to exercise caution in their interpretation of trends with respect to immigrant assimilation and the effects of immigration on U.S. society., Many investigators presently use the decennial U.S. Census and the Current Population Survey (CPS) to study the socioeconomic incorporation of immigrants into the United States. Researchers typically select persons of [...]

Using the New Immigrant Survey Pilot, we compare answers to the census question on year of arrival in the United States with answers to questions about the dates and durations of earlier U.S. trips. We show that the year identified by the census does not correspond to the year of either the first or the last U.S. trip. Because many immigrants enter and leave the United States several times before becoming legal immigrants, the census question produces estimates of U.S. experience that are quite different from those produced by direct questions about trip durations.

This article reviews standard sources of demographic data-censuses, intercensal surveys, registration systems, and specialized surveys and describes their inability to provide accurate data on immigrants, particularly those without documents. We [...]

SAMUEL P. HUNTINGTON Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. xvii + 428 p. $27.00. Samuel P. Huntington sounds the alarm over [...]

We present theoretical arguments and empirical research to suggest that the principal mechanisms of cumulative causation do not function in large urban settings. Using data from the Mexican Migration Project, we found evidence of cumulative causation in small cities, rural towns and villages, but not in large urban areas. With event-history models, we found little positive effect of community-level social capital and a strong deterrent effect of urban labor markets on the likelihood of first and later U.S. trips for residents of urban areas in Mexico, suggesting that the social process of migration from urban areas is distinct from that in the more widely studied rural migrant-sending communities of Mexico.

In this article, we develop hypotheses about the ways in which network ties influence wages and the circumstances under which social capital assumes greater or lesser importance in the determination of migrant earnings. We then test these hypotheses using data on male Mexican migrants gathered by the Mexican Migration Project. We find that social capital has both direct and indirect effects on migrant wages. Indirectly, social capital influences how a job is obtained and whether it is in the formal sector. Directly, having friends and relatives with migratory experience improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the job search to yield higher wages. Moreover, the effects of social capital on wages are greater for undocumented than documented migrants, reflecting the more tenuous labor market position of the former. These results confirm and extend social capital theory and underscore the importance of social networks in understanding the determination of migrant earnings., The concept of social capital was introduced into social science by the economist Glenn Loury (1977) but was elaborated theoretically by the sociologists Pierre Bourdieu (1986) and James Coleman (1988). [...]

Many field investigators have observed the evolution of a 'culture of migration' in certain Mexican communities characterized by a high rate of out-migration to the U.S. Within such communities, international migration becomes so deeply rooted that the prospect of transnational movement becomes normative: young people 'expect' to live and work in the U.S. at some point in their lives. Males, especially, come to see migration as a normal part of the life course, representing a marker of the transition to manhood, in addition to being a widely accepted vehicle for economic mobility. International migration is cultural in the sense that the aspiration to migrate is transmitted across generations and between people through social networks. In this article, we develop a formal theory of the culture of migration and test it using a special data set collected by the first author as well as data from the Mexican Migration Project. We show that children from families involved in U.S. migration are more likely to aspir e to live and work in the U.S. and that these aspirations, in turn, influence their behavior, lowering the odds that they will continue in school, and raising the odds of their eventual out-migration to the U.S., Field investigators working in a variety of settings have described the emergence of a 'culture of migration' in Mexican communities characterized by long-standing and high rates of international migration. Within [...]

Human society emerged over 6 million years of hominid evolution. During this time group size steadily increased, and to maintain group cohesion human beings gradually evolved a well-developed social intelligence based on the differentiation and refinement of emotions. The neurological structures for emotional expression are part of the primitive brain and developed long before the cognitive equipment for rational intelligence evolved. Indeed, full rationality came rather late in human evolution, and it has only been within the last 100 years that the social conditions emerged for a mass culture based on rationality. A review of the evolution of human society and human cognition illustrates the creation and workings of the human emotional brain and show how it operates independently of and strongly influences the rational brain. If sociology is to advance, research and theory must grapple with both rational and emotional intelligence and focus particularly on the interplay between them.

In this article, we argue that segregation interacts with a variety of structural transformations in society to determine the spatial concentration of poverty. Based on this argument, we then specify a statistical model overcoming methodological problems that have hampered earlier work. Estimates based on US data confirm that racial/ethnic segregation interacts with structural shifts in society to concentrate poverty. By 1990, a powerful interaction between residential segregation and income inequality had emerged to spatially isolate the poor, an interaction the effects of which were buttressed by weaker interactions between segregation, rising class segregation, and stagnating mean incomes. Our analysis reveals how underlying shifts in socio-economic structure can have very different effects on the concentration of poverty experienced by different groups, depending on the degree of racial/ethnic segregation they experience.

Objective. We seek to measure stocks of migration-specific human and social capital available to Mexican immigrants and to quantify their effect in promoting out-migration to the United States. Methods. We use data from the Mexican Migration Project to measure the share of people in western Mexico who have been to the U.S., who are socially connected to someone who has migrated to the U.S. in the past, and who are socially connected to someone living in the U.S. at the time of the survey. Results. We find that 40% of household heads from this region--and 20% of all persons of labor force age--have been to the United States at least once in their lives. In addition, 25% of household heads have an immediate family member currently living in the United States; 61% have a member of their extended family living north of the border; and 37% report knowing a friend in the U.S. at the time of the survey. All told, 73% of household heads in western Mexico are socially connected to someone living north of the border, a nd 81% at least know someone with U.S. experience. Conclusions. These extensive stocks of human and social capital lead to very high probabilities of out-migration over the course of a Mexican's life and suggest that migration to the United States may continue even as economic pressures to migrate diminish., Mexican migration to the United States is the largest sustained international movement anywhere in the world. During the 1960s, legal Mexican immigration totaled 430,000 persons; but in the 1970s, it [...]

Objective. We seek to describe trends in the geographic destination of Mexican immigrants to the United States. Methods. Using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples for 1910-90 and the 1996 Current Population Survey, we tabulate the distribution of all foreign-born Mexicans and recent Mexican immigrants (those arriving in the prior five years) by state and metropolitan area. Results. We find that early in the century, Mexicans went primarily to Texas, but after 1910, California emerged as a growing pole of attraction. California continued to gain at the expense of Texas through the 1920s and 1930s, but it did not surpass Texas until the Bracero Program of 1942-1964. Following the demise of this program, California came to dominate all other destinations; but since 1990, Mexican immigration has shifted away from it toward new states that never before have received significant numbers of Mexicans. Conclusions. During the 1990s, Mexican immigration was transformed from a regional to a national phenomenon. By 1996, nearly a third of new arrivals were going to places other than the five traditional gateway states, which historically have absorbed 90% of all Mexican immigrants., Mexican immigration has never been spread evenly among the fifty United States. Historically, a few key states, mostly in the Southwest, have attracted a large majority of immigrants from Mexico. [...]

The claim that class rather than race has become the main determinant of segregation is discussed. Black residential segregation seems to remain high across all income levels, and the gap between Blacks and other minority groups to increase as income rises.

The authors contend that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which was intended to stem the flow of Mexican migration to the US, strengthened immigrant political power by driving more immigrants to seek naturalization and citizenship in the US.

We specify a set of equations defining a dynamic model of international migration and estimate its parameters by using data specially collected in Mexico. We then used it to project the a hypothetical Mexican community population forward in time. Beginning with a stable population of 10,000 people, we project ahead 50 years under three different assumptions: no international migration; constant probabilities of in- and out-migration, and dynamic schedules of out- and in-migration that change as migratory experience accumulates. This exercise represents an attempt to model the self-feeding character of international migration noted by prior observers and theorists. Our model quantifies the mechanisms of cumulative causation predicted by social capital theory and illustrates the shortcomings of standard projection methodologies. The failure to model dynamically changing migration schedules yields a 5% overstatement of the projected size of the Mexican population after 50 years, an 11% understatement of the total number of U.S. migrants, a 15% understatement of the prevalence of U.S. migratory experience in the Mexican population, and an 85% understatement of the size of the Mexican population living in the United States.

It is commonly accepted that the United States was 'invaded' by an unprecedented wave of illegal immigrants beginning in the 1980s. According to the Department of Homeland Security, by 2008 [...]

In this article a theoretical model is developed that views undocumented border crossing as a well-defined social process influenced by the quantity and quality of human and social capital that migrants bring with them to the border, and constrained by the intensity and nature of U.S. enforcement efforts. Detailed histories of border crossing from undocumented migrants originating in 34 Mexican communities are employed to estimate equations corresponding to this model. On first trips, migrants rely on social ties to locate a guide to help them across the border. As people gain experience in border crossing, they rely less on the assistance of others and more on abilities honed on earlier trips, thus substituting migration-specific human capital for general social capital. The probability of apprehension is influenced by different factors on first and later trips. On initial trips, crossing with either a paid (coyote) or unpaid (a friend or relative) guide dramatically lowers the odds of arrest; but on subsequent trips mode of crossing has no effect on the odds of apprehension, which are determined primarily by the migrant's own general and migration-specific human capital. On all trips, the intensity of the U.S. enforcement effort has little effect on the likelihood of arrest, but INS involvement in drug enforcement sharply lowers the odds of apprehension., Undocumented migration has become a divisive political issue in the United States. Three-quarters of Americans view it as a serious social problem (Harwood, 1986; Espenshade and Calhoun, 1993) and elected [...]

The modern US has been characterized as an 'hourglass economy' with a proliferation of jobs at the top and bottom of wage distribution, but very little in between. The distribution of occupational wages is examined between 1949 and 1989 using data from PUMS files. The experience of men was found to generally conform to the hourglass metaphor, although the metaphor fails for women.

Objective. Prior studies yield the pessimistic conclusion that international migration does not promote entrepreneurial activity and business formation. Through a careful quantitative analysis, we seek to show that international migration plays a more positive role in promoting economic development than is generally thought. Methods. Using data gathered in thirty Mexican communities and U.S. destination areas, we follow male household heads over the course of their lives and estimate an event-history model that uses personal resources, household assets, community characteristics, local market potential, and macroeconomic conditions to predict the odds of business formation. We estimate other models to predict the kind of business formed and the number of workers employed. Results. The receipt of U.S. earnings by households and communities significantly increases the odds of business formation and productive investment. Conclusions. The fact that migrant-owned businesses are generally small retail ventures that generate little employment reflects generalized conditions of opportunity in Mexico, not a debility resulting from the migration process itself. U.S. migration is an important factor promoting business formation by migrants and nonmigrants alike.

In this response we correct an error in our earlier description of the RCO index. We also confirm that the index is not bounded on the negative side as we had previously thought, and we discuss the conditions under which its value goes below -1. We consider defining concentration in terms of density rather than area and systematically compare area-and density-based measures. We conclude that in spite of its methodological imperfections RCO remains a useful and informative measure of spatial concentration that can be safely used until a clearly superior alternative is identified., In a 1988 Social Forces article, we argued that residential segregation is appropriately conceptualized as spanning five dimensions of spatial variation. One of these was 'concentration' which we defined as [...]

We replicate prior research into the determinants of English language proficiency among immigrants using a dataset that controls for potential biases stemming from selective emigration, omitted variables, and the mismeasurement of key constructs. In general, we reproduce the results of earlier work, leading us to conclude that despite inherent methodological problems, research based on cross-sectional censuses and surveys yields fundamentally accurate conclusions. In particular, we find unambiguous evidence that English proficiency rises with exposure to U.S. society, and we reaffirm earlier work showing a clear pattern of language assimilation among Mexican migrants to the United States., The recent surge in immigration to the United States has revived a longstanding debate about the extent and rate of immigrant assimilation, and one facet of assimilation - language - [...]

Rising income inequality, urbanization, and increasing class segregation has created a geographic localization of affluence and poverty across the world. The localization will cause a rise in the density of poverty and expose the poor to increased disease, crime, violence and family disruption. Further, the affluence concentration will improve the privileges of the rich. The twenty-first century will see the reinforcement of class segregation through ecological mechanisms and create an increasingly violent society.

Economic arguments, quantitative data, and ethnographic case studies are presented to counter popular misconceptions about international labor migration and its economic consequences in Mexico. The prevailing view is that Mexico-U.S. migration discourages autonomous economic growth within Mexico, at both the local and national levels, and that it promotes economic dependency. However, results estimated from a multiplier model suggest that the inflow of migradollars stimulates economic activity, both directly and indirectly, and that it leads to significantly higher levels of employment, investment, and income within specific communities and the nation as a whole. The annual arrival of around $2 billion migradollars generates economic activity that accounts for 10 percent of Mexico's output and 3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product., According to the best available evidence, Mexican migrants working in the United States annually send or bring back around $2 billion. Despite the difficulty of counting a flow of money [...]

Mexican immigrants in the US make conscious decisions to enhance the quality of life of their community in Mexico, despite hardships. Their judicious spending and sending of earnings in the form of savings and remittances to Mexico contradict the notion that migration produces dependency. However, changes in the individual and household conditions and shifting attachment to society often influence economic decisions of the immigrants. Fluctuations in the international political economy and economic conditions of the community also affect decisions.

An examination of the effect of spatially concentrated joblessness on the well-being of African Americans shows that joblessness has significant negative socioeconomic impacts. Observation of an individual's family and neighborhood characteristics reveals that African American men living in areas of concentrated male joblessness are more likely to be jobless and women living in such areas to be more likely to be unmarried and become teenage mothers.