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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代际流动性中的城市扩张和种族不平等


城市地区社会经济地位的持续种族不平等一直是美国和欧洲国家的一个重大问题。跨种族群体在代际流动性 （IM） 方面的差异已被确定为这种持续存在的关键来源。然而，了解 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 IM 的差异。我们使用结构方程模型分析了来自美国 874 个大都市县的数据，以测试蔓延对 IM 中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。我们部分归因于更紧凑的县中社会资本的较高种族差异的直接影响具有统计学意义。对于间接效应，种族隔离在 IM 中对城市扩张和种族不平等的中介作用最大，其次是经济连通性 （EC） 和种族偏见。蔓延对 IM 中种族不平等的净间接影响是负面的，因为通过种族隔离和 EC 的负面间接影响超过了通过种族偏见产生的积极间接影响。我们的研究结果表明，城市形式在 IM 种族不平等中起着重要作用。