What Harvard’s Raj Chetty overlooks about upward mobility
The Harvard economist Raj Chetty, justly famous for his studies of the factors that enable upward mobility in America, is back with a new analysis that has attracted wide attention. Thanks to access to the individual tax records of a million former public housing residents whom his Opportunity Insights team tracked, he determined that a move from “the projects” to a new, mixed-income community led to long-term economic gains for children.
TL;DR
- Raj Chetty's study tracked a million former public housing residents, finding long-term economic gains for children who moved to mixed-income communities.
- The HOPE VI program, which demolished crime-ridden public housing, is seen as a factor in these improvements.
- Children in HOPE VI units earned more, were more likely to attend college, and less likely to be incarcerated compared to counterparts in non-revitalized projects.
- The article questions the sustainability of middle-class integration in mixed-income communities and the scalability of the approach.
- It suggests that individual agency, steady employment, and two-income households are also crucial for upward mobility, independent of government programs.
- Alternative paths to upward mobility, such as owner-occupied homes and neighborhood amenities, are proposed.
- The article implies that the federal government's initial creation of dysfunctional public housing complexes like Robert Taylor Homes is an overlooked aspect.
- Past public housing was once desirable and produced successful residents, indicating that income mix alone is not a guaranteed predictor of success.