What is the relationship between demography, inequality, space and racial dynamics?
How subpopulations reproduce and combine to affect income inequality in the general population? What is the impact of intra-generational mobility and how do individual circumstances affect inequality? What happens to inequality when these circumstances change? My Ph.D. dissertation answers these questions by focusing on the dynamics of poverty and income inequality in the face of rapid demographic changes. In a second line of research I am concerned with the importance of spatial and social contexts. Knowledge, innovations and behaviors that influence fertility decisions spread over space through teaching, learning and imitative processes among people living in areas that are closer to each other. I find that the importance of socioeconomic characteristics depends on their spatial distribution. The fertility level of neighboring regions, in particular, is a strong predictor for local fertility rates, providing evidence that fertility has a multiplier effect mediated by distance. A thir
