Volume 7, Number 1 (Winter) 1972
Owen, John D. 1972. "The Distribution of Educational Resources in Large American Cities." Journal of Human Resources 7(1):26-38.
Educational resources are distributed unequally within large American cities, with poor and nonwhite neighborhoods receiving less than their share. An empirical analysis of data for nine large cities shows that teacher salary expenditures per pupil are lower in low-income and nonwhite neighborhoods, and that the level of both teacher experience and verbal ability is also lower there. Much of this inequality can be explained by the teacher assignment system: a single city-wide salary schedule, the allocation of attractive teaching posts to the most experienced teachers, and, in some cities, informal pressures that are exerted to keep black teachers in black schools.
The author is Associate Professor of Economics, the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research. The author acknowledges helpful comments from Barbara Bergmann, Samuel Bowles, James Coleman, Henry Levin, and Jacob Mincer. Financial support for the research was received from grants from the U.S. Office of Education and administered by the Johns Hopkins University Center for the Study of Social Organization of Schools.
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