The Golden Middle Class Neighborhood: Trends in Residential Segregation and Consequences for Offspring Outcomes

Simen Markussen and Knut Røed ()

No 11684, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Based on Norwegian administrative registers we provide new empirical evidence on the effects of the childhood neighborhood's socioeconomic status on educational and labor market performance. A neighborhood's status is measured annually by its prime age inhabitants' earnings ranks within larger commuting zones, and the childhood neighborhood status is the average status of the neighborhoods inhabited from birth to age 15. Identification of causal effects relies on within-family comparisons. Our results reveal a hump-shaped relationship between the socioeconomic status of the childhood neighborhood and school results at age 15-16, such that the optimal neighborhood is of medium rank. The top-ranked neighbor-hoods are as bad as the bottom-ranked. Similar results are obtained for educational and labor market outcomes measured at higher ages.

Keywords: segregation; neighborhood effects; educational outcomes; social mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 I24 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2018-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - revised version published as 'Are Richer Neighborhoods Always Better for the Kids?' in: Journal of Economic Geography, 2023, 23 (3), 629–651

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