Does Latino Population Induce White Flight? Evidence from Los Angeles County

Abstract

Whether local minority population induces white flight to suburbs or private schools is a question of interest to many researchers. However, empirically identifying the causality is difficult due to residential sorting. Relying on a residential sorting model, I assume that people live in the same neighborhood are homogenous. I identify the effect of local Latino population on white flight by using the cohort-to-cohort change in the ethnic composition within each neighborhood, which is a credibly idiosyncratic variation. Using Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, I find that for every 10 percentage points increase in the share of Latinos in a white child’s cohort and neighborhood, she is more likely to attend private school by 3 percentage points, or her household is more likely to move to a less Latino neighborhood in the next two years by 6-8 percentage points. Estimates imply that 88% of decrease in public school enrollment rate in California during 1990-2000 can be explained by white flight from Latinos.