The Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative of 1993 offered targeted funding and tax incentives to distressed urban and rural communities. This initiative required a community-involvement component, setting it apart from more traditional economic development initiatives of the Reagan and Bush administrations. Using reports required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and census data, this study examines the programmatic emphases of four of the original six urban zones and evaluates the overall impact of zone programs on socioeconomic trends. These trends are evaluated by matching zone-designated census tracts to nonzone tracts through a propensity-score matching model using 1990 census data. Trends in poverty and other socioeconomic outcomes are measured by 1990-2000 change at the census tract level for individual zones, as well as across all zones using a series of fixed-effect models. Findings indicate that community building and involvement initiatives received the least amount of funding. Traditional economic development programs received the most emphasis but this did not translate into positive socioeconomic outcomes. With the exception of a few isolated incidences where individual zones fared better than comparison areas, zone initiatives had little impact.

Model selection strategies play an important, if not explicit, role in quantitative research. The inferential properties of these strategies are largely unknown, therefore, there is little basis for recommending (or avoiding) any particular set of strategies. In this paper, we evaluate several commonly used model selection procedures [Bayesian information criterion (BIC), adjusted R2, Mallows' Cp, Akaike information criteria (AIC), AICc, and stepwise regression] using Monte-Carlo simulation of model selection when the true data generating processes (DGP) are known. We find that the ability of these selection procedures to include important variables and exclude irrelevant variables increases with the size of the sample and decreases with the amount of noise in the model. None of the model selection procedures do well in small samples, even when the true DGP is largely deterministic; thus, data mining in small samples should be avoided entirely. Instead, the implicit uncertainty in model specification should be explicitly discussed. In large samples, BIC is better than the other procedures at correctly identifying most of the generating processes we simulated, and stepwise does almost as well. In the absence of strong theory, both BIC and stepwise appear to be reasonable model selection strategies in large samples. Under the conditions simulated, adjusted R2, Mallows' Cp AIC, and AICc are clearly inferior and should be avoided.model selection, BIC, AIC, stepwise regression,

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This article provides a demographic exposition of the changes in the U.S prison population during the period of mass incarceration that began in the late twentieth century. By drawing on data from the Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities (1974–2004) for inmates 17–72 years of age (N = 336), we show that the age distribution shifted upward dramatically: Only 16 percent of the state prison population was 40 years old or older in 1974; by 2004, this percentage had doubled to 33 percent with the median age of prisoners rising from 27 to 34 years old. By using an estimable function approach, we find that the change in the age distribution of the prison population is primarily a cohort effect that is driven by the “enhanced” penal careers of the cohorts who hit young adulthood—the prime age of both crime and incarceration—when substance use was at its peak. Period-specific factors (e.g., proclivity for punishment and incidence of offense) do matter, but they seem to play out more across the life cycles of persons most affected in young adulthood (cohort effects) than across all age groups at one point in time (period effects).

We compare the neighborhood characteristics of native-and foreign-born blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians in 1970 and 1980. We broaden the locational attainment literature by emphasizing three contrasts: between black and nonblack groups, between native black and nonblack immigrant groups, and among black groups. Consistent with previous evidence, we find a clear spatial disadvantage for black groups relative to nonblack groups, and for native blacks compared to nonblack immigrant groups, in both years. However, our study reveals a slight advantage for foreign nonHispanic blacks (e.g., Afro-Caribbean immigrants) among the black groups througho u t the time period. Our results break new ground by extending the analysis of racial and ethnic variation in residential attainment back to 1970. providing an earlier benchmark against which current patterns of residential attainment can be compared.The United States has experienced several distinct periods of immigration throughout the twentieth century (Alba 1990;Portes and Rumbaut 1996;Waldinger 1996). From European newcomers near the beginning of the century to the current period of predominantly Asian and Latin American immigration, the United States has remained a popular destination for international migrants. Historically, newcomers to the United States have surpassed relatively quickly African Americans on most dimensions of social and economic well-being. For example, Stanley Lieberson (19S0, p. 2) summaDirect all correspondence to Robert M. Adelman,

Homeownership, a symbol of the American dream, is one of the primary ways through which families accumulate wealth, particularly for blacks and Hispanics. Surprisingly, no study has explicitly documented the segregation of minority owners and renters from whites. Using data from Census 2000, this study aims to fill this gap. Analyses here reveal that the segregation of black renters relative to whites is significantly lower than the segregation of black owners from whites, controlling for relevant socioeconomic and demographic factors, contrary to the notion that homeownership represents an endpoint in the residential assimilation process. The patterns for Hispanics and Asians conform more to expectations under the spatial assimilation model. The findings here suggest that race and ethnicity continue to be as important in shaping residential segregation as socioeconomic status, and raise concerns about the benefits of homeownership, particularly for blacks.

We compare the neighborhood characteristics of native-and foreign-born blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians in 1970 and 1980. We broaden the locational attainment literature by emphasizing three contrasts: between black and nonblack groups, between native black and nonblack immigrant groups, and among black groups. Consistent with previous evidence, we find a clear spatial disadvantage for black groups relative to nonblack groups, and for native blacks compared to nonblack immigrant groups, in both years. However, our study reveals a slight advantage for foreign non-Hispanic blacks (e.g., Afro-Caribbean immigrants) among the black groups througho u t the time period. Our results break new ground by extending the analysis of racial and ethnic variation in residential attainment back to 1970. providing an earlier benchmark against which current patterns of residential attainment can be compared.The United States has experienced several distinct periods of immigration throughout the twentieth century (Alba 1990;Portes and Rumbaut 1996;Waldinger 1996). From European newcomers near the beginning of the century to the current period of predominantly Asian and Latin American immigration, the United States has remained a popular destination for international migrants. Historically, newcomers to the United States have surpassed relatively quickly African Americans on most dimensions of social and economic well-being. For example, Stanley Lieberson (19S0, p. 2) summa-Direct all correspondence to Robert M. Adelman,

The Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative (EZ/EC), funded by Congress in 1994, offered geographically targeted funding and tax incentives to distressed urban communities in the US. The mandated community involvement component of the programme was meant to separate it from traditional economic development initiatives, aligning it more fully with the core goals of community economic development. Did the programmatic strategies emphasise economic development more than fostering community partnerships or vice versa? The paper examines how much emphasis was actually placed on fostering community partnerships in the programme. It also assesses how effective this initiative was at achieving socioeconomic gains. Findings indicate that the more traditional community and economic development strategies received the majority of funding, despite the mandated requirement of building community partnerships. Nevertheless, the initiative resulted in modest decreases in poverty and unemployment. The lack of emphasis on the fostering of community partnerships in Chicago's zone did not render the initiative ineffective.