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Neighborhood Sorting Obscures Neighborhood Effects in the Opportunity Atlas

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  • Dionissi Aliprantis
  • Hal Martin

Abstract

The Opportunity Atlas (OA) is an innovative data set that ranks neighborhoods according to children’s adult outcomes in several domains, including income. Conceptually, outcomes offer new evidence about neighborhood effects when measured in isolation from neighborhood sorting. This paper shows that neighborhood sorting contributes to OA estimates. We document cases in which small sample sizes and changes over time can explain disagreements between OA rankings and those based on contemporaneous variables. Our results suggest caution for interpretations of the OA data set at a granular level, particularly for predictions about the outcomes of black children in high-income neighborhoods.

Suggested Citation

  • Dionissi Aliprantis & Hal Martin, 2020. "Neighborhood Sorting Obscures Neighborhood Effects in the Opportunity Atlas," Working Papers 20-37, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwq:89103
    DOI: 10.26509/frbc-wp-202037
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bryan S. Graham, 2018. "Identifying and Estimating Neighborhood Effects," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 450-500, June.
    2. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Martin, Hal & Tauber, Kristen, 2024. "What determines the success of housing mobility programs?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Magne Mogstad & Joseph P Romano & Azeem M Shaikh & Daniel Wilhelm, 2024. "Inference for Ranks with Applications to Mobility across Neighbourhoods and Academic Achievement across Countries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(1), pages 476-518.
    4. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman, 2019. "A Practical Method to Reduce Privacy Loss When Disclosing Statistics Based on Small Samples," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 414-420, May.
    5. Dionissi Aliprantis & Francisca G.-C. Richter, 2020. "Evidence of Neighborhood Effects from Moving to Opportunity: Lates of Neighborhood Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 633-647, October.
    6. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Maggie R Jones & Sonya R Porter, 2020. "Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: an Intergenerational Perspective [“Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants in the US Over Two Centuries,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 711-783.
    7. Malone, Thom & Redfearn, Christian L., 2018. "Shocks & ossification: The durable hierarchy of neighborhoods in U.S. metropolitan areas from 1970 to 2010," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 94-121.
    8. Dionissi Aliprantis, 2017. "Human capital in the inner city," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1125-1169, November.
    9. Katz, Lawrence & Duncan, Greg J. & Kling, Jeffrey R. & Kessler, Ronald C. & Ludwig, Jens & Sanbonmatsu, Lisa & Liebman, Jeffrey B., 2008. "What Can We Learn about Neighborhood Effects from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment?," Scholarly Articles 2766959, Harvard University Department of Economics.
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    12. Dionissi Aliprantis, 2017. "Assessing the evidence on neighborhood effects from Moving to Opportunity," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 925-954, May.
    13. Dionissi Aliprantis & Daniel R. Carroll, 2018. "Neighborhood dynamics and the distribution of opportunity," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 247-303, March.
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    15. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Carroll, Daniel R. & Young, Eric R., 2024. "What explains neighborhood sorting by income and race?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
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    17. Galster, George C., 2019. "Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226599854, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Martin, Hal & Tauber, Kristen, 2024. "What determines the success of housing mobility programs?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Mikhail Golosov & Michael Graber & Magne Mogstad & David Novgorodsky, 2024. "How Americans Respond to Idiosyncratic and Exogenous Changes in Household Wealth and Unearned Income," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 139(2), pages 1321-1395.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    neighborhood sorting; neighborhood effects; Opportunity Atlas;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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