Neighborhood variation in the relationship between childhood educational achievement and long-term outcomes

• In Event: Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 11. Intergenerational Inequality and Mobility

Abstract

Neighborhoods shape social mobility in fundamental but complex ways. While much attention focuses on how neighborhoods affect the prospects of otherwise comparable residents, another way that local contexts may matter is by moderating the relationships between key aspects of the status attainment process. This implies heterogeneous mobility patterns across local contexts. In this paper we focus on the well-established relationship between educational achievement in childhood and outcomes in adulthood (e.g., income), and we conceptualize the neighborhood-specific strength of this relationship as an indicator of the local conditions that enable individuals to translate educational success to better long-run outcomes. Using unique administrative data linking public school students in one western state to a range of early adult outcomes, we describe the extent to which this relationship varies across neighborhoods; explore characteristics that predict a stronger link between childhood and adult measures; and assess how school contexts contribute to these patterns.

Authors

• Paul Hanselman, University of California-Irvine

• Quentin Brummet, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Lindsay Liebert, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Leah Clark, U.S. Census