Working Paper: NBER ID: w13462
Authors: Leah Platt Boustan; Robert A. Margo
Abstract: The spatial mismatch hypothesis posits that employment decentralization isolated urban blacks from work opportunities. This paper focuses on one large employer that has remained in the central city over the twentieth century - the U.S. Postal Service. We find that blacks substitute towards postal work as other employment opportunities leave the city circa 1960. The response is particularly strong in segregated areas, where black neighborhoods are clustered near the central business district. Furthermore, this pattern only holds for non-mail carriers, many of whom work in central processing facilities. More recently, the relationship between black postal employment and segregation has declined, suggesting that spatial mismatch has become less important over time.
Keywords: spatial mismatch; postal employment; race segregation; urban economics
JEL Codes: J71; N32; N92
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Residential segregation (R23) | Black postal employment (L87) |
| Residential segregation (R23) | Job access for non-mail carrier positions (L87) |
| Black postal employment (L87) | Job access for non-mail carrier positions (L87) |
| Residential segregation (R23) | Inefficient duplication of public infrastructure (H54) |