“The Color of Money” revisited: Racial lending patterns in Atlanta's neighborhoods

Abstract

In 1988, the Atlanta Journal‐Constitution published “The Color of Money,” an influential series examining mortgage redlining in Atlanta. The articles documented wide lending disparities between white and black neighborhoods of similar income levels. Given sweeping changes in housing finance since 1988, we seek to determine whether Atlanta's racial geographic disparities in mortgage lending have changed.

Analysis of 1992 to 1996 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data reveals slight improvement. Atlanta's depository lenders made 4.2 times as many conventional home purchase loans per owner‐occupied unit to middle‐income white neighborhoods as they did to middle‐income black neighborhoods; a decade earlier, this ratio was 5.2. Nondepositories post lower ratios, particularly for Federal Housing Administration‐insured loans, but this market segment raises concerns because of potential abuses. By the indicator of most enduring theoretical and policy interest—conventional home purchase lending by depositories—the patterns that aroused concern a decade ago are still evident today.     

Presupuesto público sin participación ciudadana. La necesidad de un cambio institucional en México para la consolidación democrática

Over the last thirty years, Mexico has undergone an important consolidation of its institutional framework, focused primarily on the electoral and political system. This process of political change was accompanied by a significant transformation and liberalization of the financial and economic system. Mexico’s current situation proves that both processes do not yield satisfactory results when social problems are left unattended. In fact, the transition from a noncompetitive political system to a more democratic one, has not guaranteed better living conditions for most of the population, in part because there is practically no participation in public life on behalf of most of the citizenry. This article reflects on the fundamental importance of citizens’ participation in democracy. Particular attention is paid to public participative budgets as factors which may contribute to democracy’s consolidation and quality, but which have had negligible impacts thus far as is illustrated by public participative budgets initiatives that have been held in Mexico City.     

Book reviews

William G. Rosenberg, Liberals in the Russian Revolution. The Constitutional Democratic Party, 1917–1921. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1974. xiv+534 pp. $25.00 or $9.75 (paperback).

Roger Pethybridge, The Social Prelude to Stalinism. London: Macmillan, 1974. 343 pp. £7.00.

Vladimir Seduro, Dostoevski's Image in Russia Today. Belmont, Mass.: Nordland Publishing Company, 1975. 508 pp. $18.50.

P. H. Vigor, The Soviet View of War, Peace and Neutrality. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. vii+256 pp. £6.50.

Franklyn D. Holzman, Financial Checks on Soviet Defense Expenditures. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1975. xv+104 pp. $11.50.

Hans‐E. Gramatzki, Räumliche Aspekte der Sowjetischen Wirtschaftsplanung. Berlin: Berichte des Osteuropa‐Instituts an der Freien Universität Berlin, 1974. 500 pp. DM 18.50.

Andrew F. Burghardt (ed.), Development Regions in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Canada. New York: Praeger, and London: Martin Robertson, 1975. xiii+192 pp. £8.25.

Alvin Z. Rubinstein (ed.), Soviet and Chinese Influence in the Third World. Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government. New York: Praeger, and London: Martin Robertson, 1975. ix+232 pp. £8.55.

Alfred Zauberman, The Mathematical Revolution in Soviet Economics. London: OUP, 1975. xii+62 pp. £2.75.

M. W. Balz, Invention and Innovation under Soviet Law: A Comparative Analysis. Toronto and London: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath, 1975. ix+187pp. £7.50.

Susan Jacoby, Inside Soviet Schools. New York: Schocken Books, 1974. 248 pp. $3.95.

Alexander Matejko, Social Change and Stratification in Eastern Europe. An Interpretive Analysis of Poland and Her Neighbors. (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development.) New York: Praeger, 1974, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. xxiii+272 pp. £8.00.

Jaroslaw Piekalkiewicz, Communist Local Government. A Study of Poland. Athens, Ohio: Ohio UP, 1975. xiv+282 pp. $10.00.

Hans Hermann Höhmann, Michael C. Kaser, Karl C. Thalheim (eds.), The New Economic Systems of Eastern Europe. London: C. Hurst, and Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975. xxi+585 pp. £9.50.

Betty A. Laird and Roy D. Laird, To Live Long Enough: the Memoirs of Naum Jasny, Scientific Analyst. Lawrence: The University Press of Kansas, 1976. vii+190 pp. $11.00.

Oleh Semenovych Pidhainy and Oleksandra Ivanivna Pidhainy, The Ukrainian Republic in the Great East‐European Revolution: A Bibliography. Part II. Vol. 6. Toronto and New York: New Review Books, 1975. xv+387 pp. $34.50.     

Book reviews

Lawrence L. Whetten (ed.), The Future of Soviet Military Power. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers, 1977. vii+190 pp. £9.75.

Lawrence L. Whetten (ed.), The Political Implications of Soviet Military Power. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers, 1977. ii+183 pp. £9.75.

Arthur Jay Klinghoffer, The Soviet Union and International Oil Politics. New York: Columbia UP, 1977. 389 pp. $20.15.

Roy D. Laird, Joseph Hajda, Betty A. Laird (eds.), The Future of Agriculture in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: The 1976–1980 Five Year Plans. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1977 (Outside the United States— Tonbridge, Kent: Ernest Benn).

Ronald J. Hill, Soviet Political Elites: the Case of Tiraspol. London: Martin Robertson, 1977. x+226 pp.

Karl W. Ryavec, Implementation of Soviet Economic Reforms: Political, Organizational and Social Processes. New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1975‐ 300 pp.

Alvin Z. Rubinstein, Red Star on the Nile. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1977. 383 pp. 20.10 or £8.10 (paperback).

Raymond Hutchings, Soviet Science, Technology, Design. Interaction and Convergence. London: OUP for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1976. x+320 pp. £12.00.

Walter Sablinsky, The Road to Bloody Sunday (Father Gapon and the St. Petersburg Massacre of 1905). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1976. $18.50.

Robert J. Brym, The Jewish Intelligentsia and Russian Marxism. A Sociological Study of Intellectual Radicalism and Ideological Divergence. London: Macmillan Press, 1978. viii+157 pp. £8.95.

Vera S. Dunham, In Stalin's Time: Middleclass Values in Soviet Fiction. London: CUP, 1976. 283 pp. £10.00.

Gerd Meyer, Bürokratischer Sozialismus. Eine Analyse des sowjetischen Herrschaftssystems. Stuttgart: Frommann‐Holzboog, 1977. 331 pp.

R. W. Davies (ed.), The Soviet Union. London: Allen & Unwin, 1978. 191 pp. £6.50; £2.95 (flexicovers).     

One Year After the Collapse of the USSR: A Panel of Specialists

Six senior American specialists in Soviet, Ukrainian, and Russian affairs reflect on economic and political developments in light of apocalyptic expectations articulated in the West after the collapse of the USSR. Presentations, formulated in November 1992, focus on the lot of the consumer during the winter, a survey of direct foreign investments, the leadership of Yel'tsin, military and security considerations, and Russian-Ukrainian relations. Coverage of economic issues also includes discussion of food shortages, pervasive corruption, and Russian nationalist views of pro- or anti-market orientations. A concluding afterword embraces the December Congress of People's Deputies and Gaydar's departure. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D19, F21, K42, P26.     

Shared Race/Ethnicity,Court Procedural Justice,and Self‐Regulating Beliefs: A Study of Female Offenders

Using survey data from a sample of white, black, and Hispanic incarcerated females (N = 554), we examine if the theoretically hypothesized and empirically demonstrated relationship between procedural justice and obligation to obey the law is substantiated among a sample of offenders and explore the impact that sharing the race/ethnicity of the defense attorney and prosecutor in their most recent conviction has on female inmates' perceptions of court procedural justice and their perceived obligation to obey the law. The findings reveal that female offenders who perceive the courts as more procedurally just report a significantly greater obligation to obey the law. In addition, white female inmates who had a white prosecutor were significantly more likely to perceive the courts as procedurally just. Non‐whites, though, perceive the courts as more fair if they encountered a minority prosecutor regardless of whether the prosecutor was black or Hispanic.