Persistent racial inequality in socioeconomic status within urban areas has been a significant concern in both the US and European countries. Differences across racial groups in intergenerational mobility (IM) have been identified as a key source of this persistence. However, efforts to understand racial inequality in IM have rarely considered the role of urban sprawl. This article argues that urban sprawl affects differences in IM between racial groups directly and indirectly through racial segregation, racial bias, and social capital. We analyze data from 874 metropolitan counties in the US using structural equation models to test these direct and indirect effects of sprawl on racial inequality in IM. We found that urban sprawl was negatively associated with racial inequality in IM. The direct effect, which we partially attribute to higher racial disparities in social capital in more compact counties, was statistically significant. For the indirect effects, racial segregation had the largest mediating effects between urban sprawl and racial inequality in IM, followed by economic connectedness (EC) and racial bias. The net indirect effect of sprawl on racial inequality in IM was negative because negative indirect effects through racial segregation and EC outweigh positive indirect effects through racial bias. Our findings demonstrate the significant role of urban form in racial inequality in IM.

中文翻译：

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城市扩张和代际流动中的种族不平等

城市地区社会经济地位持续存在的种族不平等一直是美国和欧洲国家的一个重大问题。不同种族群体在代际流动性（IM）方面的差异已被认为是这种持久性的一个关键来源。然而，理解 IM 中种族不平等的努力很少考虑城市扩张的作用。本文认为，城市扩张通过种族隔离、种族偏见和社会资本直接或间接影响种族群体之间的 IM 差异。我们使用结构方程模型分析了美国 874 个大都市县的数据，以测试扩张对 IM 种族不平等的直接和间接影响。我们发现城市扩张与 IM 中的种族不平等呈负相关。我们将这种直接影响部分归因于人口密度较大的县社会资本中较高的种族差异，这种影响在统计上是显着的。对于间接影响，种族隔离在城市扩张和 IM 中的种族不平等之间具有最大的中介效应，其次是经济联系（EC）和种族偏见。扩张对内布拉斯加州种族不平等的净间接影响是负面的，因为种族隔离和欧共体带来的负面间接影响超过了种族偏见造成的正面间接影响。我们的研究结果证明了城市形态在 IM 种族不平等中的重要作用。