Data and code for "Can you move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration"

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Ellora Derenoncourt, Princeton University

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
replication_AER			01/26/2022 09:04:AM

Project Citation:

Derenoncourt, Ellora. Data and code for “Can you move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration.” Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2022. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-01-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/E147963V1

Project Description

Summary: This paper shows that racial composition shocks during the Great Migration (1940-1970) reduced the gains from growing up in the northern United States for Black families and can explain 27% of the region’s racial upward mobility gap today. I identify northern Black share increases by interacting pre-1940 Black migrants’ location choices with predicted southern county out-migration. Locational changes, not negative selection of families, explain lower upward mobility, with persistent segregation and increased crime and policing as plausible mechanisms. The case of the Great Migration provides a more nuanced view of moving to opportunity when destination reactions are taken into account.

Funding Sources: Harvard Lab for Economic Applications and Policy; Russell Sage Foundation (83-17-19)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Great Migration; Upward mobility; Neighborhoods

JEL Classification:
      J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
      J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
      N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-

Geographic Coverage: non-southern US commuting zones

Time Period(s): 1920 – 2015

Universe: non-southern US counties and commuting zones

Data Type(s): aggregate data; census/enumeration data; geographic information system (GIS) data; survey data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation: commuting zones, counties

Geographic Unit: commuting zones, counties

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Published Versions

V1 [2022-01-26]

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