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Research Article
Open Access

Economic Inequality and the Geography of Activity Space Segregation: Combining Mobile Device Data and Census Data

Siwei Cheng, Yongjun Zhang, Jenna Shaw
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences January 2025, 11 (1) 132-152; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2025.11.1.07
Siwei Cheng
aAssociate professor in the Department of Sociology at New York University, United States
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Yongjun Zhang
bAssistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University, United States
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Jenna Shaw
cPhD student in the Department of Sociology at New York University, United States
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  • Figure 1.
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    Figure 1.

    Graphic Illustration of Mobility-Based Measures of Group Exposure

    Source: Authors’ tabulation.

  • Figure 2.
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    Figure 2.

    Maps of MSA-Level Relative Isolation Measures

    Source: Authors’ tabulation based on the American Community Survey (Ruggles et al. 2024).

    Note: SafeGraph mobility data matched to census block groups (CBG) in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. The optimal way to view figure 2 is in color. We refer readers of the print edition of this article to https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/11/1/132 to view the color version.

  • Figure 3.
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    Figure 3.

    Comparing MSA-Level Distance- and Mobility-Based Exposure Measures at the MSA Level

    Source: Author’s tabulation based on the American Community Survey (Ruggles et al. 2024).

    Note: SafeGraph mobility data matched to Census block groups (CBG) in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. The dots represent metropolitan areas.

  • Figure 4.
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    Figure 4.

    Coefficients from Regression Models Predicting Relative Isolation of Q1 and Q4 Income Groups

    Source: Authors’ tabulations based on the American Community Survey (Ruggles et al. 2024).

    Note: SafeGraph mobility data matched to census block groups (CBG) in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. The error bars show 95 percent confidence intervals. All regression models are weighted by MSA population size. The full regression results are reported in the online supplement.

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    Figure 5.

    Coefficients from Regression Models Predicting Relative Isolation of Blacks and Whites

    Source: Authors’ tabulation based on the American Community Survey (Ruggles et al. 2024).

    Note: SafeGraph mobility data matched to census block groups (CBG) in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. The error bars show 95 percent confidence intervals. All regression models are weighted by MSA population size. The full regression results are reported in the online supplement.

  • Figure 6.
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    Figure 6.

    Comparing Effects of Income Inequality on Distance- and Mobility-Based Measures of Group Isolation

    Source: Authors’ tabulation based on the American Community Survey (Ruggles et al. 2024).

    Note: SafeGraph mobility data matched to census block groups (CBG) in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. The error bars show 95 percent confidence intervals. All regression models are weighted by MSA population size. The full regression results are reported in the online supplement.

  • Figure 7.
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    Figure 7.

    Sensitivity Analysis on Effects of Income Inequality on Income Isolation Under Different Assumptions About Biases in Aggregated Mobility Data

    Source: Authors’ tabulations based on the American Community Survey (Ruggles et al. 2024).

    Note: SafeGraph mobility data matched to census block groups (CBG) in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. The error bars show 95 percent confidence intervals. All regression models are weighted by MSA population size. The full regression results are reported in the online supplement.

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    Appendix

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    • Adobe PDF - Cheng_Online_Appendix.pdf - Appendix
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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 11 (1)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 11, Issue 1
1 Jan 2025
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Economic Inequality and the Geography of Activity Space Segregation: Combining Mobile Device Data and Census Data
Siwei Cheng, Yongjun Zhang, Jenna Shaw
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Jan 2025, 11 (1) 132-152; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2025.11.1.07

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Economic Inequality and the Geography of Activity Space Segregation: Combining Mobile Device Data and Census Data
Siwei Cheng, Yongjun Zhang, Jenna Shaw
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Jan 2025, 11 (1) 132-152; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2025.11.1.07
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • FROM RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION TO ACTIVITY SPACE SEGREGATION
    • THE GEOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS OF ACTIVITY SPACE SEGREGATION
    • ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND ACTIVITY SPACE SEGREGATION
    • RESEARCH QUESTIONS
    • GEOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS IN THE RELATIVE ISOLATION OF INCOME AND RACIAL GROUPS
    • ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND ACTIVITY SPACE SEGREGATION
    • SENSITIVITY ANALYSES: POTENTIAL DEVIATIONS FROM KEY ASSUMPTIONS
    • DISCUSSION
    • METHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX
    • FOOTNOTES
    • REFERENCES
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Keywords

  • activity space
  • segregation
  • economic inequality
  • mobile device data
  • census data

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