Study Finds New Evidence that Place Determines Income Mobility

Gregor Aisch, Eric Buth, Matthew Bloch, Amanda Cox, and Kevin Quealy share news of a new study by Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren "that has huge consequences on how we think about poverty and mobility in the United States." The study, "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility," expands on previous research by Chetty and Hendren into income mobility. According to the article: "the researchers are no longer confined to talking about which counties merely correlate well with income mobility; new data suggests some places actually cause it."

The article sums the findings of the story:

"Across the country, the researchers found five factors associated with strong upward mobility: less segregation by income and race, lower levels of income inequality, better schools, lower rates of violent crime, and a larger share of two-parent households. In general, the effects of place are sharper for boys than for girls, and for lower-income children than for rich."

In the words of Chetty and Hendren, "The broader lesson of our analysis…is that social mobility should be tackled at a local level."

The article examines Los Angeles County as its case study, but the article includes numerous interactive features that allow access to the study's findings on other localities around the country. The article also includes interesting insight into the mobility of New York City, which is skewed by the large number of immigrants living in the city, "who have good rates of upward mobility no matter where they live" and "[n]othing about New York in particular caused these children to do better."

The New York Times coverage of the new study includes an op-ed written by Justin Wolfers, who explains the importance of the study as well as an earlier study written by Chetty and Hendren along with Lawrence Katz. Wolfers writes: "These two new studies are the most powerful demonstration yet that neighborhoods — their schools, community, neighbors, local amenities, economic opportunities and social norms — are a critical factor shaping your children’s outcomes." The New York Times coverage also includes anecdotal insights from the experience of the Polk family, who escaped the violence of their home in Bellwood, Illinois to Wood Dale in nearby DuPage County.