Creating Moves to Opportunity: Experimental Evidence on Barriers to Neighborhood Choice

Posted: 4/4/2020 (CSDE Seminar Series)

This Friday, Stefanie DeLuca from Johns Hopkins University’s Sociology Department will present results from a study about upward income mobility and barriers to neighborhood choice. The premise of their research begins with the observation that low-income families in the US tend to live in neighborhoods that offer limited opportunities for upward income mobility. DeLuca and co-authors evaluate several explanations for this observed pattern. One explanation is that families prefer such neighborhoods for other reasons, such as affordability or proximity to jobs. An alternative explanation is that they do not move to high-opportunity areas due to various barriers. Their study employs a randomized controlled trial with housing voucher recipients in Seattle and King County. They conclude that redesigning affordable housing policies to provide customized assistance in housing search could reduce residential segregation and increase upward mobility substantially.