When it comes to wealth, poverty and economic mobility, location matters. That's the finding of a study recently released by Harvard.
Pre-Doctoral Fellow Jamie Fogel was part of the research team that worked on the Equality of Opportunity Project. He told WMUK's Gordon Evans that they wanted to study the link between where children grow up and their economic futures as adults. Fogel says the researchers concluded that some areas are better for enabling children to move up the "economic ladder" when they grow up.
Fogel says they found that places with low mobility tend to have high levels of racial and economic segregation, more income inequality, poor schools, low levels of civic engagement and a smaller share of two parent households. But Fogel says while the research shows that places have an effect, it's not clear exactly how they impact economic mobility.
Ottawa County scored very well in the study for economic mobility. Fogel says it's among the best in the country in terms of helping children later in life. But he says it's important to note that there are many factors beyond place that play into children's future.
The study found that Kalamazoo County did not fare well for income mobility. Asked about the Kalamazoo Promise's possible impact, Fogel says the researchers examined data of young adults who were likely to be out of college. He says the Promise happened too late to be a factor in the current study.
