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Margery Austin Turner

Bio: Margery Austin Turner is an academic researcher from Urban Institute. The author has contributed to research in topics: Metropolitan area & Housing discrimination. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 34 publications receiving 2288 citations.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors synthesize findings from a wide range of empirical research into how neighborhoods affect families and children and lay out a conceptual framework for understanding how neighborhoods may affect people at different life stages.
Abstract: This article synthesizes findings from a wide range of empirical research into how neighborhoods affect families and children. It lays out a conceptual framework for understanding how neighborhoods may affect people at different life stages. It then identifies methodological challenges, summarizes past research findings, and suggests priorities for future work. Despite a growing body of evidence that neighborhood conditions play a role in shaping individual outcomes, serious methodological challenges remain that suggest some caution in interpreting this evidence. Moreover, no consensus emerges about which neighborhood characteristics affect which outcomes, or about what types of families may be most influenced by neighborhood conditions. Finally, existing studies provide little empirical evidence about the causal mechanisms through which neighborhood environment influences individual outcomes. To be useful to policy makers, future empirical research should tackle the critical question of how and ...

937 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted 4,600 paired tests across 20 major metropolitan areas and found that disparate treatment discrimination in rental and owner-occupied housing markets persists, but has declined substantially in magnitude over the last decade.
Abstract: African Americans and Hispanics traditionally have faced many barriers that limit their access to and choice of housing. During summer and fall 2000, local fair housing organizations conducted 4,600 paired tests across 20 major metropolitan areas nationwide. These surveys directly compared real estate or rental offices' treatment of African Americans and Hispanics to that of whites. The 2000 study replicates a 1989 national paired testing study, providing the most complete information available about the persistence of housing market discrimination against African American and Hispanic home seekers. The study finds that disparate treatment discrimination in rental and owner-occupied housing markets persists, but has declined substantially in magnitude over the last decade. Key exceptions to this general decline are discrimination against Hispanics in access to rental housing, racial steering of African Americans, and less assistance to Hispanics in obtaining financing provided.

289 citations

01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: HDS2000 found that discrimination still persists in both rental and sales markets of large metropolitan areas nationwide, but that its incidence has generally declined since 1989 (see Exhibit ES-1). Only Hispanic renters face essentially the same incidence of discrimination today that they did in 1989 as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Summary of Findings HDS2000 finds that discrimination still persists in both rental and sales markets of large metropolitan areas nationwide, but that its incidence has generally declined since 1989 (see Exhibit ES-1). Only Hispanic renters face essentially the same incidence of discrimination today that they did in 1989. Otherwise, the incidence of consistent adverse treatment against minority homeseekers has declined over the last decade. 3 Exhibit ES-1: Consistent Adverse Treatment Against Blacks and Hispanics, 1989 and 2000 0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%25.0%30.0%35.0%Black Hispanic Black Hispanic percent 1989 2000Rental Sales Metropolitan Rental Markets. African Americans still face discrimination when they search for rental housing in metropolitan markets nationwide. Whites were consistently favored over blacks in 21.6 percent of tests. In particular, whites were more likely to receive information 3 Note that the 1989 results presented here are not exactly the same as those that were reported in 1989. Comparable measures have been constructed from both years, but these are not exactly the same treatment measures as reported in 1989. Some 1989 indicators could not be replicated because of changes in testing protocols. Other measures have been more precisely defined or revised for greater clarity. See Annex 5 for a complete discussion of changes in the 1989 treatment measures.

267 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the role of tenant-based housing assistance in addressing the problem of concentrated inner-city poverty, and propose a growing number of assisted housing mobility initiatives across the country.
Abstract: Historically, federal housing policy has contributed to the concentration of poverty in urban America. Moving out of poverty is not the right answer for every low‐income family, but tenant‐based housing assistance (Section 8 certificates and vouchers) has tremendous potential to help families move to healthier neighborhoods. This article explores the role of tenant‐based housing assistance in addressing the problem of concentrated inner‐city poverty. The Section 8 program by itself does not ensure access to low‐poverty neighborhoods, particularly for minority families. Supplementing certificates and vouchers with housing counseling and search assistance can improve their performance; a growing number of assisted housing mobility initiatives are now in place across the country. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should continue to fund these initiatives and increase their number over time. HUD should also strengthen incentives for all housing authorities to improve location...

147 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: The Housing Discrimination Study 2000 (HDS 2000) is the third nationwide effort sponsored by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to measure the discrimination faced by minority home seekers as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Housing Discrimination Study 2000 (HDS 2000) is the third nationwide effort sponsored by HUD to measure the amount of discrimination faced by minority home seekers This report provides national estimates of discrimination faced by African Americans and Hispanics in 2000 as they searched for housing in the sales and rental markets It also provides an accurate measure of how housing discrimination has changed since 1989 The report shows large decreases between 1989 and 2000 in the level of discrimination experienced by Hispanics and African Americans seeking to a buy a home There are, however, worrisome upward trends of discrimination in the areas of geographic steering in home sales for African Americans and the amount of help agents provide to Hispanics with obtaining financing There has also been a modest decrease in discrimination toward African Americans seeking to rent a unit This downward trend, however, has not been seen for Hispanic renters Hispanic renters now are more likely to experience discrimination in their housing search than do African American renters

80 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors study race in the labor market by sending fictitious resumes to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers and find that white names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews than African-Americans.
Abstract: We study race in the labor market by sending fictitious resumes to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers. To manipulate perceived race, resumes are randomly assigned African-American- or White-sounding names. White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews. Callbacks are also more responsive to resume quality for White names than for African-American ones. The racial gap is uniform across occupation, industry, and employer size. We also find little evidence that employers are inferring social class from the names. Differential treatment by race still appears to still be prominent in the U.S. labor market. (JEL J71, J64).

2,890 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found no significant overall effects of this intervention on adult economic self-sufficiency or physical health, and found that the relationship between neighborhood poverty rate and outcomes is approximately linear, using variation in treatment intensity across voucher types and cities.
Abstract: Families, primarily female-headed minority households with children, living in high-poverty public housing projects in five U.S. cities were offered housing vouchers by lottery in the Moving to Opportunity program. Four to seven years after random assignment, families offered vouchers lived in safer neighborhoods that had lower poverty rates than those of the control group not offered vouchers. We find no significant overall effects of this intervention on adult economic self-sufficiency or physical health. Mental health benefits of the voucher offers for adults and for female youth were substantial. Beneficial effects for female youth on education, risky behavior, and physical health were offset by adverse effects for male youth. For outcomes that exhibit significant treatment effects, we find, using variation in treatment intensity across voucher types and cities, that the relationship between neighborhood poverty rate and outcomes is approximately linear.

1,624 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a critical review of the literature on social capital and its application in the context of local social relations is presented, with a focus on where the contemporary residential neighbourhood fits into these wider debates, particularly in relation to the interaction between social cohesion and social capital.
Abstract: In current theoretical and policy debates concerning social cohesion, the neighbourhood has re-emerged as an important setting for many of the processes which supposedly shape social identity and life-chances. It is in this context of a renewal of interest in local social relations and particularly the deployment of notions of social capital that this paper offers a critical review of a wide-ranging literature. The paper explores initially and briefly the idea that societies face a new crisis of social cohesion and outlines the key dimensions of societal cohesion. The core of the paper is then devoted to an examination of where the contemporary residential neighbourhood fits into these wider debates, particularly in relation to the interaction between social cohesion and social capital. In this context, some of the key debates around the concept of social capital are outlined. In moving beyond abstraction, the paper also shows how social capital can be broken down into relevant domains for policy action a...

1,493 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is found that moving to a lower-poverty neighborhood when young (before age 13) increases college attendance and earnings and reduces single parenthood rates, and moving as an adolescent has slightly negative impacts.
Abstract: The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment offered randomly selected families housing vouchers to move from high-poverty housing projects to lower-poverty neighborhoods. We analyze MTO’s impacts on children’s long-term outcomes using tax data. We find that moving to a lower-poverty neighborhood when young (before age 13) increases college attendance and earnings and reduces single parenthood rates. Moving as an adolescent has slightly negative impacts, perhaps because of disruption effects. The decline in the gains from moving with the age when children move suggests that the duration of exposure to better environments during childhood is an important determinant of children’s long-term outcomes. (JEL I31, I38, J13, R23, R38)

1,441 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This discussion seeks to orient readers to some of the key debates in the study of discrimination and to provide a roadmap for those interested in building upon this long and important line of research.
Abstract: Persistent racial inequality in employment, housing, and a wide range of other social domains has renewed interest in the possible role of discrimination. And yet, unlike in the pre–civil rights era, when racial prejudice and discrimination were overt and widespread, today discrimination is less readily identifiable, posing problems for social scientific conceptualization and measurement. This article reviews the relevant literature on discrimination, with an emphasis on racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit markets, and consumer interactions. We begin by defining discrimination and discussing relevant methods of measurement. We then provide an overview of major findings from studies of discrimination in each of the four domains; and, finally, we turn to a discussion of the individual, organizational, and structural mechanisms that may underlie contemporary forms of discrimination. This discussion seeks to orient readers to some of the key debates in the study of discrimination and to provide a roadmap for those interested in building upon this long and important line of research.

1,409 citations