This research is designed to study patterns and determinants of residential mobility out of distressed neighborhoods in U.S. metropolitan areas. It is concerned with understanding racial differences in mobility, in particular, the characteristics of individuals, families, and social contexts that allow some minority group members to leave poor neighborhoods for more desirable ones. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Geocode-Match Files and Census Extract Datasets will be used to select a nationally representative sample of families and individuals and to test three theoretical models of residential mobility. The human capital/life stage model argues that residential mobility is a concomitant of social and occupational mobility and of life cycle changes. The place model focuses on barriers to mobility, especially those caused by racial discrimination. The housing availability model relates moving to availability and to the constraints of renting or ownership. %%% This research should contri`ute to new models of intrametropolitan mobility by taking into account the full range of relevant variables that can affect moving by individuals and families located in distressed neighborhoods. By explicitly modeling the effects of racial discrimination on housing search and location choice it will provide a comprehensive examination of barriers against and opportunities for residential mobility. The research should result in attaching probabilities to the links between human capital and neighborhoods, family, poverty, and disadvantage. Findings should be useful to policy makers concerned with these issues as well as to social scientists looking for more comprehensive theories.
