There’s an inherent contradiction here – redlining DECREASES profits. Gary Becker won his nobel prize for proving (among other things) that Discrimination of this sort reduces the profits of the b/c they’re leaving market oppty’s untapped….

You mean to say somewhere down the line ethnic groups that prefer living together will live together? That MUST mean that there is no racism in the world!

No Vurdlife, what it proves is a very simple (but still important) claim — mere existance of enclaves is NOT in and of itself proof of adverse discrimination. That’s it. BUT, alas, in our political climate, those sorts of statistical disparities ARE often used EXACTLY in that manner.

Sorry if that logic is obtuse, but its the exact same logic utilized by the article. The model allows users to input a numerical embodiment of each color’s preference for living together. It does not allow for any consideration for certain’s color’s exclusion of certain other colors. Not does it provide any useful information about what informs each minority group’s preferences (racism, cultural pride, something in between).

Moreover, even if certain groups prefer to live together, that doesn’t mean that it would become a run-down ghetto…systemic deprivation of resources and opportunity have a lot to do with that.

Leave it to Rightists to utilize absurdly simplified economic and mathematic models (holding all other factors constant, in the “long run”, assuming perfect information, perfect competition, perfect _____, etc.) to the point that their conclusions are mere restatements of the hypotheses….and then to pat each other on the butt for their assertedly “scientific” proofs of their partisan viewpoints.

Do you really think that people waste alot of time building institutions designed to segregate but then don’t use them?

Banks don’t care anything about their profits, so they spend alot of time doing useless things?

SF Bay Area is INFAMOUS for the massive formal & informal methods used to “manage” their communities. And yet, Desi & E. Asian abound and, in many communities – such as my old burb of Foster City – actually outnumber white folk by some margin.

The tools are there but the outcomes you assert don’t seem to hold out here.

In any case, ask yourself this – if people segregate so easily, why do dominant communities use various formal (legal restrictions, discriminatory zoning provisions) and informal (redlining) methods to try to keep minority communities out of their neighborhoods?

Maybe the model’s assumptions don’t actually hold in the real world …

That’s actually an interesting question, what role will ethnicity play in 10,005 AD?

I dunno why this post made me think of this, but I always tell them: get away from the enclave! Go where it’s warm and cheap. If only I would take my own advice….