Paper · 2014 · intermediate level
Where Is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States
Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline, Emmanuel Saez
- Venue
- Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(4), 1553–1623
- Link
- publisher / source page
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In plain language
Used tax records for 40+ million children and parents to map how much a child's location affects their chances of out-earning their parents — e.g., a poor child's shot at reaching the top fifth is 4.4% in Charlotte vs. 12.9% in San Jose.
Technical summary
Administrative-data study of intergenerational mobility by U.S. commuting zone; identifies five correlates of high-mobility areas: less segregation, less inequality, better primary schools, more social capital, more family stability.
Key takeaways
- Shifted the field's unit of analysis from national trends to place-level variation.
- Basis for the Opportunity Insights 'Opportunity Atlas' and much subsequent place-based policy research.
Themes
Related works
- The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940 — Raj Chetty et al., 2017