Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Distress moves to the sububs

Note the following is relevant to the many apocalyptic authors who seem to be stoke in the mode that our poverty (a.k.a. prone to rioting, looting, et cetera) are all concentrated in the inner city.

The amazingly rapid suburbanization of poverty
Danielle Kurtzleben, Vox, 3 August 2014 (hat tip: MR)
The share of poor people living in distressed neighborhoods (those with 40 percent poverty or more) grew by nearly 78 percent during the 2000s, writes Brookings fellow Elizabeth Kneebone. And that growth came overwhelmingly in the suburbs. The share of the poor population in distressed neighborhoods in the suburbs grew by nearly 140 percent, compared to 50 percent in urban areas.

And of course, there is an increase of inner city symptoms in the countryside as well.  I have commented a number of times on this, but most pointedly here.
 
While you wouldn't want to say our inner cities are one big gentrified paradise, I think the problem zone is a lot broader than a lot of folks realize.

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