The geography of family differences and intergenerational mobility

Abstract

A recent series of studies by the Equality of Opportunity Project has documented substantial geographical differences in intergenerational income mobility. These spatial differences are important because they suggest that place matters more than previously thought in determining economic well-being. In this paper, we show that family characteristics vary widely across areas and simulations indicate that differences these family characteristics can explain a substantial share of the variation in intergenerational income mobility across places documented by the Equality of the Opportunity Project. Additionally, we show that the characteristics of families that move differ substantially from families that do not move, which raise doubts about the external validity of causal inferences based on the Equality of Opportunity Project's analysis of movers.

The changing geography of social mobility in the United States

“…These findings have attracted a wide range of attention and are stimulating thinking about possible place-based policies to improve those early childhood environments that limit ISM. These geographical differences are observed at several different scales-within the family, the neighborhood, or the local labor market (11,38). We have not attempted to identify the precise causal pathway through which places affect upward mobility, but rather to document the shifting regional geography (and geographical relationships) of upward mobility over the 20th century.…”

“…This reputation has come under scrutiny in light of recent evidence showing that Americans' prospects of climbing the income ladder are no better than those of their counterparts living elsewhere (1)(2)(3)(4). The long-term decline of American intergenerational social mobility (ISM) rates could be attributed to common structural changes in economies and occupational structures across the developed world (5)(6)(7)(8); to comparatively less advantaged early-life influences related to parenting, family structure, and endowments (9)(10)(11)(12)(13); or to different national policies in shaping the labor market and educational impacts of structural economic change (14,15).…”

Do Supply‐side Forces Explain Geographic Variation in Health Care Use?

“…Results suggested that demand-side factors accounted for approximately half of the regional variation in utilization, which is broadly consistent with the conclusions from some of the studies noted above. While this study is clearly innovative, the use of movers to identify the person-specific (demand) and areaspecific (supply) causes of geographic variation in spending relies on the assumption that moving is exogenous, which both economic theory and empirical evidence call into question (Gallagher, Kaestner, and Persky 2018;Greenwood 1975;Litwak and Longino Jr. 1987;Schiamberg and McKinney 2003). 2 Chandra and Staiger 2007proposed a novel supply-side explanation based on a model of comparative advantage in provider choice of treatment.…”

A Test of Supply-side Explanations of Geographic Variation in Health Care Use

“…However, both the internal and external validity of the "movers" research design depend on relatively strong assumptions (Gallagher et al, 2018). First, the external validity of this approach relies on movers being representative of the broader population, but movers and nonmovers differ in observable ways that are related to the demand for care.…”