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3 Conceptual Approaches and Frameworks
Pages 19-34

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From page 19...
... (Jennie Brand) • A linked mobility trajectory framework can facilitate understanding of how mobility levels across the life course and intergenerationally are associated.
From page 20...
... However, education also facilitates equal opportunity to the extent that access to higher education results from factors other than FIGURE 3-1 Effects of social origins on social destinations: causal association (e) , unobserved factors (U)
From page 21...
... Researchers could examine preschool, secondary school, higher education, or any combination of these; even within higher education, one could look at college attendance, college completion, type of institution attended, or years of higher learning. Causal Mediation Analysis These paths can be considered using causal mediation analysis, which allows researchers to assess mechanisms through which treatments affect outcomes, said Brand.
From page 22...
... However, according to Brand, recent research has questioned this relationship and has noted that the college equalization finding rests on an implicit assumption that the high mobility observed among college graduates reflects a causal effect of college on intergenerational mobility. An alternative explanation, she said, is that college graduates from low-income families may be more positively selected on attributes such as motivation than graduates from higher-income families for whom college attendance is a cultural norm.
From page 23...
... As seen in Figure 3-5, examining the differences in destination between college-educated and less-educated workers at each level of social origin allows one to consider heterogeneous college effects. In this example, those with more disadvantaged social origins have larger observed returns from college than those with more advantaged social origins.
From page 24...
... Song presented two examples to demonstrate why taking a life course perspective is important for understanding intergenerational mobility. She began by explaining intergenerational income elasticity, which is typically assessed by regressing the offspring's log income on the parents' log income, and uses a static approach of either a snap-shot or a multi-year average.
From page 25...
... . The highlighted column indicates a child's chances of success, namely the probability that a child reaches the top quintile of the income distribution.1 A life course perspective, on the other hand, Song explained, considers income quintiles as dynamic rather than static; people may belong to different income quintiles at different points in their lives.
From page 26...
... shows how different groups vary in both their income as well as the trajectory and stability of their income. Song said that, when comparing the mobility table to the income trajectory approach, the trajectory approach reveals substantially higher intergenerational association than the income quintile approach.
From page 27...
... . This figure provides a visualization of the potential economic impact of additional investments in education; given the status of current investments, "where should additional money go that has the highest return to long-run human capital?
From page 28...
... Heckman's hypothesis, including examples of successful job-skill interventions and examples of unsuccessful ECE interventions. Duncan delved into two older early childhood education programs as examples of interventions in this area: the Perry Preschool Project and the Abecedarian Project.
From page 29...
... Small and his colleagues asked: are alternative financial institutions more accessible than traditional banks in minority neighborhoods? To answer this question, researchers looked at 19 of the largest cities in the United States and used Google Maps to calculate how long it would take to walk, drive, and take public transit to the nearest alternative financial institution and the nearest bank.
From page 30...
... He asked presenters to comment on whether mobility research approaches could take into account structural factors. For example, fertility decisions can be seen as an individual-level outcome, but what is the role of the social context in which families raise children, and the educational and labor market institutions they encounter?
From page 31...
... This points to potential areas for intervention, said Song; "if we want to reduce inequality between families and reduce intergenerational persistence of status, we should provide poor families with more resources during the early childhood of their children." Role of Qualitative Data Pfeffer asked Small to expand on his statement that qualitative research will become more important as big data become available. Small replied this shift will be necessary in part because big data are by and large produced by private companies or the federal government "for their own interests," rather than by social scientists trying to answer a research question.4 When researchers take data that was collected for another purpose and try to make inferences about them, it is critical that they are able to contextualize the data.
From page 32...
... Impact of Unequal Distribution of Wealth A workshop participant asked speakers to comment on how the "massively unequal share of wealth" might impact mobility; she asked if upward economic mobility might be limited by the fact that a small percentage of people hold a large percentage of wealth. Furthermore, said Pfeffer, how should this population with extreme wealth concentration be accounted for in mobility research?
From page 33...
... Role of Mobility Research in Policy For the final question, Pfeffer asked speakers to comment on the role of mobility researchers in policy. He noted that Bloome had discussed the importance of providing policy makers with valid descriptions of population parameters in order to ensure that the policy process begins with an accurate and shared understanding.


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