Who gets left behind by left behind places?

Dylan Shane Connor, Aleksander K Berg, Tom Kemeny and Peter Kedron
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Peter Kedron: Arizona State University

No nkydt, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: We document that children growing up in places left behind by today’s economy experience lower levels of social mobility as adults. Using a longitudinal database that tracks over 20,000 places in the United States from 1980 to 2018, we identify two kinds of left behind places: the ‘long-term left behind’ that have struggled over long periods of history; and ‘recently left-behind’ places where conditions have deteriorated. Compared to children of similar baseline household income levels, we find that exposure to left behind places is associated with a 4-percentile reduction in adult income rank. Children fare considerably better when exposed to places where conditions are improving. These outcomes vary across prominent social and spatial categories, and are compounded when nearby places are also experiencing hardship. Based on these findings, we argue that left behind places are having “scarring effects” on children that could manifest long into the future, exacerbating the intergenerational challenges faced by low-income households and communities. Improvements in local economic conditions and outmigration to more prosperous places are, therefore, unlikely to be full remedies for the problems created by left behind places.

Date: 2023-06-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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https://osf.io/download/649c97f86513ba0cf33a3fed/

Related works:
Journal Article: Who gets left behind by left behind places? (2024)
Working Paper: Who gets left behind by left behind places? (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:nkydt

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/nkydt

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