TY  - JOUR
AB  - We exploit historical natural experiments to test whether universities increase economic mobility and equality. We use "runner-up’" counties that were strongly considered to become university sites but were not selected for as-good-as-random reasons as counterfactuals for university counties. University establishment causes greater intergenerational income mobility but also increases cross-sectional income inequality. We highlight four findings to explain this seeming paradox: universities hollow out the local labor market and provide greater opportunities to achieve top incomes, both of which increase cross-sectional inequality, and increase educational attainment and connections to high-SES people, which prevent inequality from perpetuating into intergenerational immobility.
AU  - Russell, Lauren C.
AU  - Andrews, Michael J. 
PY  - 2022
ST  - Not the Great Equalizer? Local Economic Mobility and Inequality Effects for the Establishment of U.S. Universities
TI  - Not the Great Equalizer? Local Economic Mobility and Inequality Effects for the Establishment of U.S. Universities
UR  - http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai22-634
ER  -