Opportunity When Parents Matter
John Klopfer (University of Hong Kong)
Abstract joint with Corbin Miller:
We estimate total exposure effects of families’ moves across U.S. commuting zones (CZs) on child outcomes, that combine direct effects with indirect effects through parent incomes. We provide usable causal rankings, using an efficient fixed effects estimator to control for self-selection into moves. Total exposure effects are highest in suburban CZs, and lowest in dense urban and poor rural CZs, driven equally by direct and indirect effects. Good places are bargains, with low rents and high incomes. Families’ cross-CZ moves suggest parents do not value exposure effects conditional on rents and incomes, and do value urban amenities including self-selected peer families.