Why do Ethnic Minorities Search Less? A Transport-Mode Based Theory

The aim of this paper is to show that different transport modes between whites and nonwhites lead to different search intensities. We develop a theoretical model in which whites mainly use cars to commute whereas nonwhites use public transportation. We show that, for both whites and nonwhites, living in areas where employed workers’ average commuting time is higher yield the unemployed to search more than in areas with lower commuting time. Because of different transport modes, we also show that white unemployed workers search more intensively than nonwhites even if both live in areas where employed workers have exactly the same average commuting time. This is because using a faster transportation mode allows unemployed whites to accept jobs that are located further away and thus to have a higher area of search than nonwhites.