Multiscale contextual poverty in the Netherlands

Abstract

Contextual poverty is a multiscale phenomenon which affects socioeconomic outcomes of people as well asindividual decisions to move in or out of the neighbourhood. Large-scale poverty reflects regional economicstructures. Meso-scale concentrations of poverty within cities are related to city-specific social, economic andhousing characteristics. Exposure to poverty at small spatial scales influences individuals through socialmechanisms such as role models or social networks. Particularly these smaller scales are often neglected,largely due to the lack of data. Register data for the full population of the Netherlands, geocoded to 500m by500m grid cells, makes it possible to consider a wide range of scales. However, altering scale yields differentempirical results, as stated within the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP). Our measure of contextualpoverty, therefore, embraces a range of spatial scales of contexts and compares different places within andbetween cities, revealing different spatial patterns of multiscale poverty.