Segregation in Stockholm: Birds of a Feather? Economic Segregation in Stockholm County 2000-2014

Abstract: Rising levels of income inequality in conjunction with increased global flows of migrants have created a need for extending the notion of segregation to include economic measures as well, in addition to ethnicity. In this thesis we explore the economic segregation in the municipalities of Stockholm County, during the years 2000 to 2014. We analyze the variance of income within and between neighborhoods. Moreover, we calculate the dissimilarity index for the highest and lowest income groups, and run a regression on a model with the index as the dependent variable. We show that the economic segregation has increased for most municipalities during the time period studied. Also, we find indications that migrations patterns, people moving in and out of neighborhoods, tend to reinforce existing economic segregation. People with higher socioeconomic status move from neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status and into areas of higher status. Similarly, inhabitants of lower socioeconomic status tend to move out of areas with higher status and into areas with lower status.