The study of neighbourhood effects has spread within Europe over the past decade. This article extends previous European research by focusing on Oslo, Norway. The main question relates to individual development among adolescents: does the social composition of the neighbourhood affect the socioeconomic status later in life? The study applies a multilevel approach and utilises longitudinal register-based data. The results reveal small but significant effects of neighbourhood deprivation on educational achievement and, even less pronounced, on income. Some effects on unemployment are also observed, but only in the short run. The strongest associations obtain for concentration of welfare recipients in the neighbourhood, which emphasises the importance of social value and social participation. A crude comparison suggests that neighbourhood effects in Oslo are slightly smaller/larger than similar effects in Swedish/UK cities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AnderssonE. (2004) From valley of sadness to hill of happiness: the significance of surroundings for socioeconomic career, Urban Studies, 41(3), pp. 641–659.
2.
AnderssonE.SubramanianS. V. (2006) Explorations of neighbourhood and educational outcomes for young Swedes, Urban Studies, 43(11), pp. 2013–2025.
3.
AnderssonR.MusterdS.GalsterG.KaupinnenT. M. (2007) What mix matters? Exploring the relationships between individuals’ incomes and different measures of their neighbourhood context, Housing Studies, 22(5), pp. 637–660.
4.
BergstenZ. (2010) Bättre framtidsutsikter? Blandade bostadsområden och grannskapseffekter: en analys av visioner och effekter av blandat boende. PhD thesis, Uppsala University.
5.
BolsterA.BurgessS.JohnstonR. J.JonesK.. (2007) Neighbourhoods, households and income dynamics: a semi-parametric investigation of neighbourhood effects, Journal of Economic Geography, 7(1), pp. 1–38.
6.
BrattbakkI.HansenT. (2004) Post-war large housing estates in Norway: well-kept residential areas still stigmatised?, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 19(3), pp. 311–332.
7.
BuckN. (2000) Housing, location and residential mobility, in: BerthoudR.GershunyJ. (Eds) Evidence on the Dynamics of Social Change from the British Household Panel Survey, pp. 133–160. Bristol: The Policy Press.
8.
BuckN. (2001) Identifying neighbourhood effects on social exclusion, Urban Studies, 38(12), pp. 2251–2275.
9.
DreverA. I. (2004) Separate spaces, separate outcomes? Neighbourhood impacts on minorities in Germany, Urban Studies, 41(8), pp. 1423–2489.
10.
FischerC. S. (1984) The Urban Experience. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
11.
FriedrichsJ. (1998) Do poor neighbourhoods make their residents poorer? Context effects of poverty neighbourhoods on residents, in: AndressH.-J. (Ed.) Empirical Poverty Research in Comparative Perspective, pp. 77–99. Aldershot: Ashgate.
12.
FriedrichsJ.BlasiusJ. (2005) Social norms in distressed neighbourhoods: testing the Wilson hypothesis, in: FriedrichsJ.GalsterG.MusterdS. (Eds) Life in Poverty Neighbourhoods, pp. 11–30. Abingdon: Routledge.
13.
GalsterG. (2007) Should policy makers strive for neighbourhood social mix? An analysis of the western European evidence base, Housing Studies, 22(4), pp. 523–545.
14.
GalsterG. (2011) The mechanism(s) of neighbourhood effects theory, evidence, and policy implications, in: van HamM.ManleyD.BaileyN.SimpsonL.MaclennanD. (Eds) Neighbourhood Effects Research: New Perspectives, pp. 23–56. Dordrecht: Springer.
15.
GalsterG.SantiagoA. M. (2006) What’s the ’hood got to do with it? Parental perceptions about how neighbourhood mechanisms affect their children, Journal of Urban Affairs, 28(4), pp. 201–226.
16.
GalsterG.AnderssonR.MusterdS.KauppinenT. (2008) Does neighbourhood income mix affect earnings of adults? New evidence from Sweden, Journal of Urban Economics, 63(3), pp. 858–870.
17.
GordonI.MonastiriotisV. (2006) Urban size, spatial segregation and inequality in educational outcomes, Urban Studies, 43(1), pp. 213–236.
18.
HagenK. (1995) Adresse eller karakterer? En evaluering av inntaksordningen benyttet ved opptak til grunnkurs i allmenne og økonomisk/administrative fag i Oslo videregående skoler, høsten 1994. Oslo: Fafo.
19.
van HamM.ManleyD. (2010) The effect of neighbourhood housing tenure mix on labour market outcomes: a longitudinal investigation of neighbourhood effects, Journal of Economic Geography, 10(2), pp. 257–282.
20.
HansenT.BrattbakkI. (2005) Endringsprosesser i norske drabantbyer. Byggforsk skriftserie6, Oslo.
21.
HaslumH. (2005) Lag, landskaper og tre områder i endring, in: AspenJ. (Ed.) By og byliv i endring: studier av byrom og handlingsrom, pp. 177–222. Oslo: Scandinavian Academic Press.
22.
KauppinenT. M. (2007) Neighbourhood effects in a European city: secondary education of young people in Helsinki, Social Science Research, 36(1), pp. 421–444.
23.
KauppinenT. M. (2008) Schools as mediators of neighbourhood effects on choice between vocational and academic tracks of secondary education in Helsinki, European Sociological Review, 24(3), pp. 379–391.
24.
Kommunaldepartementet (1990–91) Om storbyenes økonomiske situasjon. Stortingsmelding No. 11, Kommunaldepartementet [The Ministry of Municipal Affairs], Oslo.
25.
Laan Bouma-DoffW. van der (2007) Confined contact: residential segregation and ethnic bridges in the Netherlands, Urban Studies, 44(5/6), pp. 997–1017.
26.
LeventhalT.Brooks-GunnJ. (2000) The neighbourhoods they live in, Psychological Bulletin, 126(2), pp. 309–337.
27.
McCullochA. (2001) Ward-level deprivation and individual social and economic outcomes in the British Household Panel Study waves 1 to 8, Environment and Planning A, 33(4), pp. 667–684.
28.
MusterdS.AnderssonR. (2006) Employment, social mobility and neighbourhood effects: the case of Sweden, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 30(1), pp. 120–140.
29.
MusterdS.OstendorfW.de VosS. (2003) Neighbourhood effects and social mobility: a longitudinal analysis, Housing Studies, 18(6), pp. 877–892.
30.
MusterdS.AnderssonR.GalsterG.KauppinenT. M. (2008) Are immigrants’ earnings influenced by the characteristics of their neighbours?, Environment and Planning A, 40(4), pp. 785–805.
31.
ObertwittlerD. (2007) The effects of neighbourhood poverty on adolescent problem behaviours: a multi-level analysis differentiated by gender and ethnicity, Housing Studies, 22(5), pp. 781–803.
32.
Oslo kommune (2004) Statistisk årbok for Oslo. Utviklings- og kompetanseetaten, Oslo.
33.
Oslo kommune (2009) Byrådets budsjettforslag for 2009: dokumentasjon av budsjettgrunnlaget for bydelene: grønt hefte. Byrådsavdeling for finans og utvikling, Oslo.
34.
PebleyA. R.SastryN. (2004) Neighborhoods, poverty, and children’s well-being, in: NeckermanK. M. (Ed.) Social Inequality, pp. 119–145. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
35.
PløgerJ. (1997) Byliv og modernitet. Oslo: NIBRs plusserie.
36.
RaaumO.SalvanesK. G.SørensenE. Ø. (2006) The neighbourhood is not what it used to be, The Economic Journal, 116(January), pp. 200–222.
37.
SampsonR.MorenoffJ.Gannon-RowleyT. (2002) Assessing ‘neighbourhood effects: social processes and new directions in research, Annual Review of Sociology, 28, pp. 443–478.
38.
WesselT. (2000) Social polarisation and socioeconomic segregation in a welfare state: the case of Oslo, Urban Studies, 37(11), pp. 1947–1967.
39.
WilsonW. J. (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
