Full Citation

Title: Formative and Facilitative Information as Mechanisms of Human Capital Concentration

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.31235/OSF.IO/F6RNK

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Abstract: Over the past 30 years highly educated workers in the United States have become increasingly concentrated in a relatively small number of cities. This paper uses qualitative interviews to understand the process by which graduates of elite colleges decide where to live following graduation. It shows that many graduates are indifferent about exactly where they live, and find themselves funneled towards certain cities based on geographically uneven access to two key types of information. Facilitative information eases the job search process, enabling graduates to find and obtain opportunities they want, while formative information helps them determine what they want in the first place. Graduates’ position in social structure—in particular their past experiences and personal networks—affects their exposure to both types of information in ways that strongly influence where they end up and on occasion even overcome their stated location preferences. This geographically uneven access to information supplies one mechanism leading to the spatial concentration . . .

Url: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/f6rnk/

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Manduca, Robert

Publisher: Harvard University

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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