Question 1 for Homework 2

Calculation of Dissimilarity Index for Minneapolis

Your job with this assignment is to calculate the D, the Dissimilarity index for Minneapolis for Whites and Blacks.

where B_i and W_i are the number of Blacks and Whites that live at location i, and B and W are the total populations of Blacks and Whites in Minneapolis. This data is from Census 2000.

I want you to calculate the index twice.

Case 1. Use data at the level of Census Tracts

Case 2. Use data at the level of Census Blocks (a substantially finer unit than a Census Tract).

The Census Tract data is contained in the the file:

data/minneapolis_cen2000_tracts.xls

Note: This file contains some additional information, such as longitude and latitude coordinates, land area, water area, and the population levels for other races.

The Census Block data is contained in the the file:

data/minneapolis_cen2000_blk.xls

Note: This to keep this file small, I get only the variables necessary to make the calculation. If you would like a file with the additional data click here. This is a somewhat large file. (But at one megabyte, it is smaller than most mp3s).

Tips:

Calculate B_i/B for the first location. Then edit the cell and put a “$” sign in front of the row number for B. Then when you copy and paste this, the row number for B will be frozen. To calculate the absolute value, use the function =abs(var1-var2).