Full Citation
Title: Not the Great Equalizer? Local Economic Mobility and Inequality Effects for the Establishment of U.S. Universities
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2022
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DOI: 10.26300/1ygg-yc61
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Abstract: We exploit historical natural experiments to test whether universities increase economic mobility and equality. We use "runner-up'" counties that were strongly considered to become university sites but were not selected for as-good-as-random reasons as counterfactuals for university counties. University establishment causes greater intergenerational income mobility but also increases cross-sectional income inequality. We highlight four findings to explain this seeming paradox: universities hollow out the local labor market and provide greater opportunities to achieve top incomes, both of which increase cross-sectional inequality, and increase educational attainment and connections to high-SES people, which prevent inequality from perpetuating into intergenerational immobility. Abstract We exploit historical natural experiments to test whether universities increase economic mobility and equality. We use runner-up counties that were strongly considered to become university sites but were not selected for as-good-as-random reasons as counterfactuals for university counties. University establishment causes greater intergenerational income mobility but also increases cross-sectional income inequality. We highlight four ndings to explain this seeming paradox: universities hollow out the local labor market and provide greater opportunities to achieve top incomes, both of which increase cross-sectional inequality, and increase educational attainment and connections to high-SES people, which prevent inequality from perpetuating into intergenerational immobility.
Url: https://edworkingpapers.org/sites/default/files/ai22-634.pdf
Url: https://doi.org/10.26300/1ygg-yc61
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Russell, Lauren C; Andrews, Michael J.
Series Title: EdWorkingPaper
Publication Number: 22-634
Institution: Annenberg Brown University
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data, IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Education, Labor Force and Occupational Structure
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