The Effect of Basic Education, Health, and Racial Factors on the Spatial Distribution of Poverty Rate in Los Angeles County

Abstract

This work focuses on the spatial distribution of poverty rates in Los Angeles County and the impact of multiple socioeconomic factors on poverty rates and distribution. The scale of the study is based on census tract to ensure the fineness of the study. The three socioec-onomic factors are basic education, health, and race. The primary research method was to perform regression analyses on socioeconomic factors and poverty rates. Initially, a con-ventional Ordinary Least Square regression analysis was conducted, and it was found that this model did not explain the distribution of poverty rates by region in Los Angeles Coun-ty well. Therefore, a geographically weighted regression model was applied to explain the relationship between different socioeconomic factors and poverty rates. It was found that basic education has the effect of reducing local poverty in relatively poor areas; while for wealthier areas, merely receiving basic education is insufficient, which leads to higher poverty rates. Health insurance is more of a burden for relatively poor areas, thus worsen-ing poverty, while for relatively affluent areas, health insurance can help alleviate local poverty by avoiding high medical bills. In areas where one ethnic group is concentrated, an increase in the proportion of one ethnic group has a positive effect on reducing the local poverty rate, but in areas where other ethnic groups are concentrated, it has a negative ef-fect on reducing the local poverty rate.