Public Education Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility
Abstract
Public school funding depends heavily on local property tax revenue. Consequently, low-income households have limited access to quality education in neighborhoods with high house prices. In a dynamic life-cycle model with neighborhood choice and endogenous local school quality, we show that this property tax funding mechanism reduces intergenerational mobility and accounts for the spatial correlation between house prices and mobility. A housing voucher experiment improves access to schools, with benefits that can last for multiple generations. Additionally, a policy that redistributes property tax revenues equally across schools improves mobility and welfare. However, the benefits can take generations to be realized. (JEL H71, H75, I21, I22, J62, R23, R31)
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High house prices prevent low-income households from living in neighborhoods with good schools, which results in low social mobility.
“High house prices prevent low-income households from living in neighborhoods with good schools, which results in low social mobility.”
From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Zheng and Graham (2022)
Vouchers that give low-income families access to schools in districts with high housing prices can be an effective policy response.
“In line with the evidence from the Moving to Opportunity program (Chetty, Hendren, and Katz 2016), their model shows that vouchers that give low-income families access to schools in districts with high housing prices can be an effective policy response.”
From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Zheng and Graham (2022)
Cites
The End of the American Dream? Inequality and Segregation in US Cities
Fogli, A., & Guerrieri, V. (2019) · doi:10.3386/w26143 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
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Blanden, J., Doepke, M., & Stuhler, J. (2022) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w29979 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
- Authors
- Zheng, A., & Graham, J.
- Affiliations
- McMaster University (CA)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Venue
- American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2022-07-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 250-282
- ISSN
- 1945-7707 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-7715
- OpenAlex
- W4283764937
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 6.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Journal Macroeconomics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
- Keywords
- public school funding, property tax, intergenerational mobility, educational inequality, housing prices, neighborhood selection, school quality, housing vouchers, life-cycle model, spatial correlation, low-income households
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