Simulating income segregation through behavioral adjustments using mobile location data

Abstract

Segregation causes information isolation which leads to social stratification and ideological polarization. Economic segregation is not only present in neighborhoods, but also in libraries, shops, restaurants, etc. A large part of this economic segregation persists in our daily lives due to our, sometimes subconscious, choices and preferences. Using mobile location data, we confirmed that behavior has a significant impact on mobile income segregation, found an explanatory model for these individual choices, and simulated strategies for individuals to change their choices. We measured the viability of different strategies by using the explanatory model to measure the likelihood of an individual switching choices. We designed a viable strategy that would reduce the income segregation of Boston by 10.7% by our metric.