Social mobility has been one of those topics that has gained ever more attention in recent years, as economists and policy makers try and understand why the labor market has struggled to bounce back in the same way that the wider economy has since the great recession in 2008.
One of the most evident divides that has emerged across the western world is between those who live in cities, and those who live in rural areas. Attitudes towards everything from globalization to migration have been split between these two groups, with cities seeming to gain ever greater economic importance as their economies have flourished in almost equal proportion to the struggles of rural areas.
So a recent Penn State study should come as a bit of a surprise, saying as it does that the farther away from a city an individual is raised, the more likely they are to scale the economic ladder.
Upward mobility
The researchers focused their attention on the upward economic mobility in low-income children across the United States. They were particularly interested in exploring any differences that existed based upon the location of the children. Intriguingly, it emerged that being far removed from an urban area appeared to be beneficial to the chances of upward mobility.
“That’s a significant finding, because it suggests that policy aimed at improving mobility shouldn’t simply consider rural and urban effects, but should account for how far a county is from an urban area,” the researchers say.
The team examined five distinct factors that are associated with upward mobility. Three of these (the proportion of single-mother households; higher high-school dropout rates; and high income inequality) are linked with low economic mobility, whilst two (a high share of jobs within 15 minutes commute; and a higher share of social capital) are linked to higher economic mobility.
“We wanted to understand whether these five factors play out differently in urban and rural places,” the authors explain. “For example, would the same proportion of jobs with short commute times have the same effect on income mobility in a rural county as it would in an urban county?”
What transpired was really rather different however. What emerged was that the benefit of a short commute was much bigger in rural areas, with it being three times as large than in urban areas. It also emerged that urban areas were much more sensitive to the negative consequences of a higher high school dropout rate.
Rural/urban differences
What’s more, differences emerged in how people respond in urban areas. Factors such as improved public services and better childcare were helpful in buffering the negative impact of being raised in a single-parent household.
“We found that two counties can have the same share of single-parent households, but single-parenthood will be less likely to suppress upward mobility in the metro county than in the non-metro county,” the researchers say. “The same holds true for inequality. Its negative effects are half as large in metro counties as in non-metro counties.”
The only factor that appeared to have a similar level of impact in both urban and rural areas was social capital, which measures the strength of one’s social networks, which in turn factors into things such as a felling of belonging, trust and reciprocity.
The overall message is clear however. There cannot, and is not, a one-size-fits-all policy when it comes to trying to improve the economic mobility of citizens, as it requires a more nuanced approach depending on the location of the individual.
“There are different factors at work in rural and urban places,” the authors urge. “If we want to enhance the upward income mobility of low-income youth, we need place-based policies that specifically address these differences.”
