Mechanisms of Spatial Inequality: The Role of Intra-Elite Competition in U.S. Public Education

• In Event: 30620 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 10: Frontiers in Inequality

Abstract

Significant advancement has been made in understanding socioeconomic segregation, but the factors driving socioeconomically advantaged areas among U.S. school districts remain poorly understood. Policies aimed at improving spatial opportunity structures for students outside advantaged areas are, therefore, likely to fall short. Using spatial, political, economic, and demographic data from the NCES, ACS, and U.S. Census and NOMINATE, I use linear mixed-effects regression to estimate the association between factors commonly linked to segregation, those linked to underlying economic competition, and areas of concentrated advantage among U.S. districts. Surprisingly, factors linked to disadvantaged district segregation—such as funding inequality, per-pupil spending, state political ideology, school district fragmentation, homeownership, and race/ethnicity—are not significantly associated with concentrated advantage. Instead, intra-elite competition and higher home values emerge as possible drivers. This suggests that concentrated socioeconomic advantage may operate through mechanisms distinct from socioeconomic segregation, rooted in economic competition among university-educated socioeconomically advantaged households.

Author

• Samantha Traves, McGill University