Higher Education and Concentration Effects: The Mixed Effects of Higher Education on Poverty and its Segregation

• In Event: 1122 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Poverty, Health and Environment

Abstract

Neighborhoods and cities often work hard attract new residents with college degrees or to retain the highly educated residents they already have. Those with higher education are said to join civic associations at higher rates, to bring in more income to local businesses, and to have more connections to those in various influential institutions around the city. These factors all tend to help raise the standards in neighborhoods, but their effects at the city level are less clear. To understand this further, I complied two datasets, one at the neighborhood level and one at the city level. I then analyzed longitudinal fixed effects analyses of these U.S. neighborhoods and cities over 25,000 residents from 1990-2010. Results show that increasing the proportion of residents with higher education lowers levels of poverty at neighborhood and city levels, but tends to increase the concentration poverty at the same time. Race, renter status, population density, and nonprofit organizations all impact the effect of education on poverty segregation. This research shows the need for caution in cities' desire to recruit highly educated individuals as it may help some factors, while further harming others. Other implications around civic participation and gentrification are also discussed.

Author

• Bryant Crubaugh, Pepperdine University