--- tully <tully2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 27 January 2008, Chris Doss wrote:
> >However it has been rapidly and obviously
> >developing, with the center and western parts of
> the
> >city being areas for the upper and middle classes
> and
> >the east and southeast being working-class areas
> with
> >a lots of immigrants (both from other areas of
> Russia
> >and from other countries). It's very noticeable. I
> >used to live in southeast Moscow, now live
> downtown,
> >and believe me the difference is stark.
>
> I've wondered why the cities I'm familiar with here
> on the US
> east coast have the elite neighborhoods in the west
> and north
> and the working class in the south and east. When
> no ideas to
> explain it came to mind, I wrote it off to
> coincidence. But now
> you are making me wonder again... I see it here in
> DC,
> Baltimore, Greensboro, Burlington, NC. Does this
> happen in
> other cities? If so, I wonder why?
>
[WS:] I think that path dependence theory, which has been used explain geographic concentration of industry can shed some light here (cf. Krugman's piece on the subject which I cannot quote at the moment because I am still traveling.) The theory claims, contrary to the neclassical "wisdom," that new arrivals, be it industry or immigrants, take advantage of the presence of already present industries or immigrants, who lower their transaction costs. In case of industry, it is taking advantage of skilled workforce already working in the existing industry, trasportation infrastructure etc. In case of immigrants, it is social networks to immigrants already there that make the transaction costs of arrival to the new place lower.
Thus, the initial immigrants to a city (or a country) may settle in an area due to a historical accident (e.g. cheap housing, employment opportunities, absence of discriminaton, etc.) but the immigrants that follow will find it more advantageous to settle with other immigrants of the same or similar culture than in areas with no immigrant population. That explains the concentration of immigrants in particular geographic area.
Wojtek
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