causal

Connectedness Survives Horse-Race Controls

When economic connectedness (univariate correlation ~0.7 with mobility) is put in a horse race against poverty rates, inequality, segregation, and racial composition, its correlation with mobility remains very similar, and it actually explains away much of the previously found relationship between poverty rates and mobility—poorer neighborhoods have worse mobility largely insofar as they have less cross-class interaction.

causalpending

Speaker

Raj Chetty

Evidence Quote

not only does this economic connectedness variable continue to matter quite a bit, the univariate correlation is something like 0.7. And, even after you control for all of these factors, that correlation remains very similar.

Source

Raj Chetty on Economic MobilityEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 3:35:10 AM

My Notes

Loading notes...