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= John F. Kain (economist) =

John F. Kain (November 9, 1935 – August 4, 2003) was an American empirical economist and college professor. He is notable for first hypothesising spatial mismatch theory, whereby he argued that there are insufficient job opportunities in low-income household areas. He is also known for his long career of teaching at Harvard University.

Education
Kain earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) majoring in economics from Bowling Green State University in 1957. It is said that during his time at college that he developed is intense interest in the intersection of geography, schools, and race. Kain obtained a Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Career
Kain's first job was teaching at the United States Air Force academy in Colorado Springs. During this time, he worked with John Meyer on a joint project at the Rand Corporation, an economist at Harvard. Meyer at the time was an economist at Harvard. Meyer and Kain worked together “The Urban Transportation Problem”, which pioneered other work on transportation economics. After this research, Kain also worked as an international consultant on transportation issues. He is known to have argued against rail extensions in Singapore and Alewife, stating that buses are the preferred urban transportation system. Having worked with Meyer, Kain was referred to work at Harvard as a Junior Faculty Member.

While at Harvard, Kain wrote "Housing Segregation, Negro Employment and Metropolitan Decentralisation", which would become is most cited work. This article examined the unemployment rate among African Americans and the relationship with job locality. His hypothesis in this paper is that the high unemployment rate was due to lack of job opportunities within close proximity.

Kain also used findings from his research on job and home location to construct computer simulation equilibrium models of urban housing markets. These models were significant as they were able to address important housing policy and urban dynamics questions.

In Kain's later career, during the 1980's, he shifted his focus to conducting large scale research on Texas public schools. This research examined the relationship between the impact of black suburbanisation on individual school performance. The results of this research found that African American people in higher quality inner city schools scored significantly higher on standardised test than other African American people with nearly identical conditions, however attending a lower quality inner city school.

Spatial Mismatch Theory
Kain's article "Housing Segregation, Negro Employment and Metropolitan Decentralisation" lead to the development of the spatial mismatch hypothesis, although this term was not specifically coined in this article. The spatial mismatch hypothesis refers to the lack of job opportunities in low income, African American household areas. The factors contributing to the spatial mismatch phenomenon include potential workers accessibility and initiatives, and employers' cognitive biases surrounding the negative stigma of minorities and people located in the city when hiring.

Significance and Legacy
Kain's research on urban economics largely influenced policy measures regarding housing discrimination and job opportunities. The Watts riots that occurred in California during the 1960s, used Kain as an influence for the official response. Kain has also been a consultant for various United States Governmental agencies such as the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Kain mentored economists such as John Quigley, Rick Hanushek and David T Ellwood.

From 1975 to 1981, Kain chaired the Department of City and Regional Planning.

Kain also held the Cecil and Ida Green Chair for the Study of Science and Society and Director of the Cecil and Ida Green Centre for the Study of Science and Society at UT Dallas, as well as concurrently holding a position as Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Economy at UT Dallas.

Research
Among the papers authored or co-authored by Kain are:


 * The Urban Transportation Problem (1965)
 * Housing Segregation, Negro Employment and Metropolitan Decentralisation (1968)
 * An Econometric Model Of Metropolitan Development (1963)
 * The Big Cities’ Big Problem (1966)
 * Forecasting Car Ownership and Use (1966)
 * Housing Market Discrimination, Homeownership, and Savings Behaviour (1972)
 * Moving to the Suburbs: Do Relocating Companies Leave Their Black Employees Behind? (1996)
 * Why Public Schools Lose Teachers (2001)
 * A Pioneer's Perspective on the Spatial Mismatch Literature (2001)

Personal Life
Close of friends of Kain claim that witnessing racism towards his African-American football teammates in the 1950s influenced and drove his commitment to racial justice.

Kain was married to his wife, Mary Fan, for 46 years, before his death in 2003. Together, they have two daughters, Mary Jo Kain Earle and Joanna Kain Gentsch, and four grandchildren.