The spatial distribution of different racial and ethnic populations demonstrates that segregation persists in virtually all of America's housing markets, from large urban areas to rural counties. What exactly are the ill- effects of this demographic isolation? The most extreme geographic segregation (5) is unique to black Americans and apparently unrelated to economic status and not explained by preferences for the residence, thus strongly suggesting the persistence of racial discrimination. In contrast to poor whites, who typically live dispersed among better-off families, poor blacks, because of residential segregation, are concentrated in poor neighborhoods. As a result, residential (10) segregation contributes to the problems of these areas, including high concentrations of poverty, educational failure, unemployment, extramarital parenthood, crime, and high mortality. In addition, the increasing importance of suburbs as centers for commerce and habitation has drained resources from inner cities and led to a cyclic decline in the political will to address poverty and (15) urban decline, both of which disproportionately affect ethnic minorities. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with