Study says gentrification a good thing

fivefifths

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/06/30/Study_Gentrification_benefits_many_blacks/UPI-33411214859616/

PITTSBURGH, June 30 (UPI) -- The authors of a study on gentrification in U.S. cities say its supposed ill effects on low-income urban neighborhood residents are exaggerated.

The study by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Pittsburgh and Duke University found that when white, college-educated residents move into low-income neighborhoods, the resulting economic benefits did not all accrue to the newcomers as is usually assumed. Instead, black householders with high-school degrees accounted for a plurality of the total income gains in such neighborhoods, Time Magazine reported Monday.

"We're not saying there aren't communities where displacement isn't happening," Randall Walsh, an associate professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, told the magazine. "But in general, across all neighborhoods in the urbanized parts of the U.S., it looks like gentrification is a pretty good thing." ..............

Pilgrims to Indians - "But gentrification is a good thing."

English/Dutch/Danish/French/Italians to Africans - "But gentrification is a good thing."

Spanish/English/Portuguese to South Americans - "But gentrification is a good thing."

daver

You left off what may be the most interesting paragraph:

The study, which examined Census data from more than 15,000 neighborhoods across the United States in 1990 and 2000, found that low-income, non-white households did not disproportionately leave gentrifying areas. Instead, it found that while the white newcomers accounted for 20 percent of the total income gains in gentrifying neighborhoods, black householders with at least high school educations accounted for 33 percent of the income gains.

Veeeeeeery interesting. Why? How? Were these existing black householders, or new ones? If they were existing, why did their incomes suddenly go up due to gentrification? Homeowners, landlords, perhaps? And what happened to householders without high school educations?

Anyway, it would definitely be interesting to read a more thorough piece regarding this study.