Upward Economic Mobility Research Articles

Urban Sprawl and Intergenerational Mobility: City- and Neighborhood-Level Effects of Sprawl

Characteristics of sprawl, like decreased social cohesion and lower accessibility to jobs and services, could negatively affect economic opportunity and intergenerational mobility. City-level studies have found mixed results, but neighborhood effects have been largely ignored. This study uses census tract and city-level data in a multilevel model to develop a richer understanding of the scale-dependent relationship between sprawl and intergenerational mobility. The authors found that a 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in sprawl at the tract level is associated with a 0.07 SD decrease in upward economic mobility, while a 1 SD increase in city-level sprawl is associated with a 0.08 SD decrease. Sprawl negatively affects upward intergenerational mobility at the metropolitan level and the census tract level. The negative relationship of economic outcomes to sprawl does not hold for high-income children, indicating that there may be conflicting benefits for different income families. Policy makers should understand these conflicting pressures.

Hopefully a Good Life: Cosmopolitan Chinese Migrant Families in Urban Italy

Chinese residents have grown to be one of the most prosperous migrant groups in Italy since their mass migration from China in the 1980s. Alongside their rapid upward economic mobility, parents and children within the same families have shown generational differences in their understandings of the good life. While older generations believed that the good life means economic mobility, which is achieved through their labour and migration, younger generations’ definition of the good life, rooted in their negative experiences of racialization, is associated with social recognition. Such generational differences stem from the shifting tensions between the contested racial and national orders in association with Italy’s economic stagnation and China’s global ascendancy. Yet, both generations of these desiring subjects have manifested their own conceptions of cosmopolitan Chinese-ness to survive precarity and to aspire to a better life both economically and socially. Their family stories thus contribute to anthropological debates on how people envision their futures between hope and precarity, expectation and uncertainty, and privilege and disadvantages amid racialized class terrains, generational tensions, and geopolitical transformation of the world order.

Lifetime Upward Economic Mobility and US-Born Latina Women's Preterm Birth Rates.

To determine whether Latina women's upward economic mobility from early-life residence in impoverished urban neighborhoods is associated with preterm birth (< 37 weeks, PTB) . Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed on the Illinois transgenerational birth-file with appended US census income information for Hispanic infants (born 1989-1991) and their mothers (born 1956-1976). In Chicago, modestly impoverished-born Latina women (n = 1,674) who experienced upward economic mobility had a PTB rate of 8.5% versus 13.1% for those (n = 3,760) with a lifelong residence in modestly impoverished neighborhoods; the unadjusted and adjusted (controlling for age, marital status, adequacy of prenatal care, and cigarette smoking) RR equaled 0.65 (0.47, 0.90) and 0.66 (0.47, 0.93), respectively. Extremely impoverished-born Latina women (n = 2,507) who experienced upward economic mobility across their life-course had a PTB rate of 12.7% versus 15.9% for those (n = 3,849) who had a lifelong residence in extremely impoverished neighborhoods, the unadjusted and adjusted RR equaled 0.8 (0.63. 1.01) and 0.95 (0.75, 1.22), respectively. Latina women's upward economic mobility from early-life residence in modestly impoverished urban neighborhoods is associated with a decreased risk of PTB. A similar trend is absent among their peers with an early-life residence in extremely impoverished areas.

Balancing Urban Development: Literature on the Nexus Between Affordable Housing and Urban Sprawl

The complex relationship between affordable housing and urban sprawl has major implications for cities all over the world. While urban sprawl offers lower housing costs and increased space as benefits, it also does present serious environmental, social, and economic issues. Undoubtedly, the rising cost of housing in the urban centers has forced the no income and the low-income populations to the periphery and thus increasing economic inequality and displacement. The growing urban sprawl has given rise to environmental degradation, social isolation, and economic inefficiency, which is further intensifying the displacement of low-income individuals and their families. This again is the remote cause of overcrowding as it restrains upward economic mobility. The aim of this research is to examine the complex relationship that exists between affordable housing and urban sprawl, and to propose ways to balance these dynamics. Key objectives include analyzing the adverse impacts of urban sprawl on the environment, societal fabric, and economic productivity; investigating the driving forces behind rising housing costs and their repercussions on low-income households; evaluating existing policies and strategies addressing affordable housing and urban sprawl; and proposing innovative solutions for sustainable urban development with equitable access to affordable housing. With the use of a literature review methodology, this study offers a comprehensive strategy. Stronger land use planning and zoning, improved public transportation and active transportation infrastructure, the expansion, building and preservation of more affordable housing, the promotion of social justice and community involvement and the use of technology and data-driven approaches are policy recommendations. The adoption of micro-units and tiny homes, co-housing and shared living arrangements, adaptive reuse and mixed-use development, community land trusts and housing cooperatives are some of the innovative recommendations. By striking a balance between affordable housing and sustainable urban development, these strategies hope to foster inclusive and thriving cities. Keywords: Urban sprawl, Affordable housing, Sustainable urban development, Low-Income Households, Land-Use Policy, Compact city planning, Community engagement

Structure of Labor: Toward a New Theory of Community and Economic Development

Abstract In the United States, the rise in income inequality and downward intergenerational social mobility since the 1970s represent twin problems facing community and economic development today. This paper proposes a Structure of Labor theory to apply at the local and regional level to address these development challenges. The objective is to provide a simple local approach to development that maximizes upward economic mobility and enables individuals and communities to achieve their development goals in the 21st century development landscape of the United States. The proposed theory fuses free-enterprise principles with state-planned dirigiste efforts to maximize the best of both theoretical perspectives. After reviewing pertinent literature and articulating the Structure of Labor theory, the latter sections of the paper explicate its implications for community and economic development practice.

Social Security Disability Insurance and intergenerational economic mobility

AbstractEconomic opportunity in the United States is shaped by parental health and disability. We hypothesize that Disability Insurance (DI) may mitigate the observed pattern. Using linked survey and administrative data, we find children of work‐limited parents have 4.1 percentiles less upward economic mobility and 4.3 percentiles more downward mobility relative to children of non‐limited parents. Despite poorer health, children of parents initially awarded DI experience a negligible mobility gap relative to peers whose parents never apply to DI and 3.6 percentiles more upward mobility than peers of parents who are initially denied benefits—suggesting DI may moderate economic mobility.

The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups

While economic inequality continues to rise within countries, efforts to address it have been largely ineffective, particularly those involving behavioral approaches. It is often implied but not tested that choice patterns among low-income individuals may be a factor impeding behavioral interventions aimed at improving upward economic mobility. To test this, we assessed rates of ten cognitive biases across nearly 5000 participants from 27 countries. Our analyses were primarily focused on 1458 individuals that were either low-income adults or individuals who grew up in disadvantaged households but had above-average financial well-being as adults, known as positive deviants. Using discrete and complex models, we find evidence of no differences within or between groups or countries. We therefore conclude that choices impeded by cognitive biases alone cannot explain why some individuals do not experience upward economic mobility. Policies must combine both behavioral and structural interventions to improve financial well-being across populations.

Women's Economic Mobility and Small for Gestational Age Rates: The Effect of Paternal Early-Life Socioeconomic Position.

To determine whether paternal early-life socioeconomic position (defined by neighborhood income) modifies the association of maternal economic mobility and infant small for gestational age (weight for gestational age < 10th percentile, SGA) rates. Stratified and multilevel binomial regression analyses were executed on the Illinois transgenerational dataset of parents (born 1956-1976) and their infants (born 1989-1991) with appended U.S. census income information. Only Chicago-born women with an early-life residence in impoverished or affluent neighborhoods were studied. The incidence of impoverished-born women's upward economic mobility among births (n = 3777) with early-life low socioeconomic position (SEP) fathers was less than that of those (n = 576) with early-life high SEP fathers: 56% vs 71%, respectively, p < 0.01. The incidence of affluent-born women's downward economic mobility among births (n = 2370) with early-life low SEP fathers exceeded that of those (n = 3822) with early-life high SEP fathers: 79% vs 66%, respectively, p < 0.01. The adjusted RR of infant SGA for maternal upward (compared to lifelong impoverishment) economic mobility among fathers with early-life low and high SEP equaled 0.68 (0.56, 0.82) and 0.81 (0.47, 1.42), respectively. The adjusted RR of infant SGA for maternal downward (compared to lifelong residence in affluent neighborhoods) economic mobility among fathers with early-life low and high SEP were 1.37 (0.91, 2.05) and 1.17 (0.86, 1.59), respectively. Paternal early-life SEP is associated with maternal economic mobility (both upward and downward); however, it does not modify the relationship between maternal economic mobility and infant SGA rates.

Far from home: migration, venture and income mobility

This work focuses on the role that interregional migration within a country can play in fostering intragenerational income mobility through its effect on households’ participation in business venture. Unique panel data on Chinese households from 2015 to 2019 identifies migration experience and provides detailed information on income and entrepreneurial activities. Our key finding is that migration increases upward economic mobility within cohorts by enhancing opportunities of entrepreneurship, and this pattern is more salient in regions with more severe inequality. Consequently, migrant population in these areas enjoy greater chances when climbing income ladders, which may further alleviate regional income inequality in the long run. The estimation results remain robust when winsorising income, using sub-samples of follow-up households in repeated surveys and altering the scale of income mobility. The analysis in this article, coupled with literature on migration and entrepreneurship, provides a new perspective on how free migration matters in improving intragenerational mobility and longer-term income distribution.

Colleges and Upward Economic Mobility: The Distinctive Contribution of HBCUs

Relying on a panel of more than 600 four-year colleges (including 49 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)), we show that HBCUs as a group outperform other major classes of institutions (for example, flagship state universities) in generating upward economic mobility for their graduates.

The impact of race/ethnicity and county-level upward economic mobility on textbook outcomes in hepatopancreatic surgery

BackgroundThe impact of upward economic mobility and race/ethnicity on achieving quality metrics such as textbook outcomes remains ill-defined. As such, we sought to define the impact of race and county-level upward economic mobility on the ability to achieve a textbook outcome among patients undergoing hepatic and pancreatic surgery. MethodsPatients who underwent hepatic or pancreatic procedures between 2013 and 2017 were identified from the Medicare Standard Analytic Files. The primary outcomes of interest were textbook outcome and its components. ResultsAmong 35,403 patients, 17,923 (50.6%) patients were classified as living in a low upward economic mobility county, whereas 17,480 (49.4%) lived in a high upward economic mobility county. Furthermore, 32,981 (93.1%) patients were White, and 2,422 (6.8%) were Black. Overall, a textbook outcome was achieved in 45.6% of patients (n = 16,139), with textbook outcome most likely in patients from a high upward economic mobility county compared with a low upward economic mobility county (low: 44.6% vs high: 46.6%, P < .001). On multivariable analysis, patients in a low upward economic mobility county had 6% lower odds of achieving a textbook outcome compared with a high upward economic mobility county (odds ratio 0.94, 95% confidence interval 0.90–0.98). Furthermore, Black patients were less likely to achieve a textbook outcome (odds ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.84–0.99) and had 17% and 15% higher odds of developing a complication (odds ratio 1.17, 95% confidence interval 1.07–1.28) and extended length of stay (odds ratio 1.15, 95% confidence interval 1.05–1.27), respectively. Within races, White patients in a high upward economic mobility county had 7% higher odds of achieving a textbook outcome compared with White patients in a low upward economic mobility county (odds ratio 1.07, 95% confidence interval 1.02–1.12), although no such effect was observed in Black patients (odds ratio 0.94, 95% confidence interval 0.77–1.15). Furthermore, Black patients in a high upward economic mobility county had similar odds of achieving a textbook outcome compared with White patients in a low upward economic mobility county (odds ratio 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.77–1.09). ConclusionThese results highlight the differential impact of upward economic mobility and race on postoperative outcomes. Due to the health care implications of socioeconomic status, future policy initiatives should target economic mobility as a means to ensure greater health care equity.

Key factors contributing to the rise of Northeast in Indian football

This article highlights the achievements of Northeast in Indian football and the underlying reasons for the same. Northeast India has been a torchbearer in sports and Indian football in particular, has been characterized by dominance of players from Northeast region of India. Work by All Indian Football Federation (AIFF), lack of cricket fanaticism, upward economic mobility and the lure of government jobs, state and local interest towards the game, nature of football, tenacity of the players, and suitable climate are some reasons behind the ascendency of Northeast in Indian football. For further development of football in the regions, steps like monetary incentives, development of strategic and talent academics, world class infrastructure, foreign trips and recruitment of professionals should be undertaken. There is still a long way to go, for India to be called a sports superpower. One way for the nation to own the tag is through football which is the most popular game and has one of the highest viewership in the world. Although the nation’s FIFA ranking stands at a dismal 106, despite a population of 1.4 billion, Indian football can look forward for its improvement and eventual dominance by deriving the benefits of talents and quality Northeast has been consistently producing. With the right steps and directions, we may not need to wait for too long to cheer for our own country in the coming editions of FIFA World cup.

Social Mobility, Migratory Vocations, and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association

This paper explores how the confessional politics of Catholic identification has been mobilised into religious callings, from the village to the city and from China to Overseas Chinese communities. Building on fieldwork conducted in Hangzhou and New York City in 2018, I show how a Chinese Catholic migrant priest authenticates the spiritual purity of his vocation by using the legality and ease of transnational travel to legitimise his moral and economic upward mobility.

The association of upward economic mobility with textbook outcomes among patients undergoing general and cardiovascular surgery

BackgroundWhile disadvantaged neighborhoods may be associated with worse outcomes and earlier death, the relationship between economic opportunity and surgical outcomes remains unexplored. MethodsMedicare beneficiaries who underwent AAA, CABG, colectomy or cholecystectomy were identified and stratified into quintiles based on upward economic mobility. Risk-adjusted probability of adverse postoperative outcomes were examined relative to economic mobility. ResultsAmong 1,081,745 Medicare beneficiaries (age: 75.5 years, female: 43.0%, White: 91.3%), risk-adjusted 30-day postoperative mortality decreased in a stepwise fashion from 6.0%(5.9–6.1) in the lowest quintile of upward economic mobility to 5.3%(5.2–5.4) in highest upward economic mobility (lowest vs. highest economic mobilityobility OR:1.14 (95%CI:1.11–1.17)). Similar associations were noted for postoperative complications (OR:1.04, 95%CI:1.02–1.06), extended length-of-stay (OR:1.07, 95%CI:1.06–1.09), and 30-day readmission (OR:1.04, 95%CI:1.02–1.05). Black beneficiaries had a higher risk of post-operative mortality across upward economic mobility quintiles except within the highest upward mobility group (referent, White patients, OR:0.93, 95%CI:0.79–1.09, p=0.355). ConclusionEconomic upward mobility was associated with post-operative outcomes. Race-based differences were mitigated at the highest levels of upward economic mobility, highlighting the importance of socioeconomics as a health equity lever.

ASO Visual Abstract: Association of County-Level Upward Economic Mobility with Stage at Diagnosis and Receipt of Curative-Intent Treatment Among Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

ASO Visual Abstract: Association of County-Level Upward Economic Mobility with Stage at Diagnosis and Receipt of Curative-Intent Treatment Among Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Association of County-Level Upward Economic Mobility with Stage at Diagnosis and Receipt of Curative-Intent Treatment among Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Upward economic mobility represents the ability of children to surpass their parents financially and improve their economic status. The extent to which it contributes to socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes remains largely unknown. Patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in 2004-2015 were identified from the SEER-Medicare linked database. Information on county-level upward economic mobility was obtained from the Opportunity Atlas, and its impact on early-stage diagnosis (tumor size ≤ 5 cm, no nodal involvement or distant metastases, no major vascular invasion or extrahepatic extension) and receipt of curative-intent treatment (resection, transplantation, or ablation) was examined. Among 9190 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with HCC, the majority were White (64.9%, n = 5965). Overall, 44.7% (n = 4105) of patients were diagnosed with early-stage HCC and 29.7% (n = 2731) underwent curative-intent treatment. While higher upward economic mobility was not associated with HCC diagnosis at an early stage (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.83-1.06), patients with early-stage HCC from areas of high upward economic mobility had increased odds of undergoing curative-intent treatment (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.03-1.51). Upward economic mobility had no impact on the likelihood to undergo curative-intent treatment for early-stage HCC among White (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.91-1.45), Black (OR 1.94, 95% CI 0.85-4.45) or Asian patients (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.44-1.36). In contrast, non-White patients other than Blacks or Asians diagnosed with early-stage HCC had markedly higher odds of receiving curative-intent treatment if the individual resided in an area characterized by higher versus lower upward economic mobility (OR 2.58, 95% CI 1.50-4.46). While community-level economic mobility was not associated with stage of diagnosis, it affected the likelihood of undergoing curative-intent treatment for early-stage HCC, especially among minority patients other than Black or Asian patients.

ASO Author Reflections: Association of County-level Upward Economic Mobility with Stage at Diagnosis and Receipt of Curative-Intent Treatment Among Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

ASO Author Reflections: Association of County-level Upward Economic Mobility with Stage at Diagnosis and Receipt of Curative-Intent Treatment Among Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

On Intimate Reaches of US Empire: Neoliberal Imperialism and Domestic Abuse in Metro Manila

Research shows that political economy—the structural distribution of a society’s economic resources as shaped by power inequalities—is linked to the incidence of domestic abuse as well as survivors’ success in escaping abusive relationships. Yet studies often overlook the extent to which domestic abuse in the global South is embedded in neocolonial structural violence. Drawing on interviews and surveys with urban poor women in Metro Manila, I explore how structural adjustment and state violence from the 1980s to the 2000s have inextricably shaped experiences of domestic abuse. Popular discourse and some gender scholars portray economic globalization as an empowering, even liberatory force for poor women in the global South. Instead, I trace how a political economy marked by what I call “neoliberal imperialism” has fueled domestic violence, not by boosting the upward economic mobility of urban poor Filipinas but by worsening their gendered precarity. I complicate feminist scholarship that has framed increased abuse as a male backlash against heightened female mobility. Gendered material inequalities, austerity, and militarization have serially exposed women and girls to cycles of violence. These facets of a neocolonial political economy collude to reinforce low-income Filipinas’ primary responsibility for reproductive labor, trapping them in abusive relationships despite access to cash earnings. I argue that imperialist extraction not only exacerbates domestic abuse but that interpersonal gendered violence is a tool for harnessing Filipina reproductive labor to reproduce empire. I critique carceral feminist responses to abuse in a neocolonial context, considering how urban poor Filipinas’ oppositional consciousnesses gesture toward structural alternatives.

Political Economy of Dispossession and Economic Change: A Case of Rajarhat in West Bengal, India

Land dispossession under the neoliberal capitalist development has become a focal point of debate across Indian states, particularly in West Bengal. Based on household surveys conducted in Rajarhat in West Bengal (India) in 2009 and 2016, this article illuminates how a large-scale dispossession of farmers from land for a neoliberal planned urban centre adjoining Kolkata Metropolis leads to a process of economic change and rural transformation, giving birth to diverse non-farm livelihood activities for the dispossessed households. While access to these new livelihood opportunities in the burgeoning urban economy turns out to be unequal, the dispossessed households broadly undergo upward economic mobility. It also argues that the benefits of speculative land value arising from neoliberalisation of spaces in the post-acquisition stage actuate the partially dispossessed households to sell off their remaining land and produce a basis for social differentiations and asset inequalities within the dispossessed households. To prevent these and similar outcomes, it calls for apt policies.

The Persistent Effect of Violent Trauma on Urban Communities 25 Years After Tupac Shakur's Murder.

The Persistent Effect of Violent Trauma on Urban Communities 25 Years After Tupac Shakur's Murder.