Raj Chetty and Economic Mobility

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Raj Chetty is an unsung hero. 

When it comes to the area of social capital, his exhaustive and trailblazing research is unmatched. 

My first article for National Review, Conservatives for Community, written in August of 2022, was inspired by Chetty's study on social capital and economic mobility in Nature. 

To quote myself:
The study, which breaks down social capital into three categories — economic connectedness, social cohesion, and civic engagement — found that children have a much greater chance of being upwardly mobile if they reside in communities with high levels of “economic connectedness.” Economic connectedness (EC) refers to the integration of people from different economic backgrounds. The study concludes that levels of EC vary depending on one’s geographical residence. Impoverished inner-city areas, for example, have remarkably low levels of EC, since most residents occupy the same socioeconomic stratum. Conversely, an area with a healthy combination of high-income and low-income residents increases the odds of economic success for low-income individuals.

While this was eye-opening to me at the time, I had no idea that Chetty had been a prolific researcher in this field for years. 

I recently finished re-reading J.D. Vance's magnum opus, Hillbilly Elegy (a book that is especially pertinent now), and was surprised to find mention of Chetty's work from 2014:

In a paper analyzing the data, Chetty and his coauthors noted two important factors that explained the uneven geographic distribution of opportunity: the prevalence of single moms and income segregation. Growing up around a lot of single moms and dads living in a place where most of your neighbors are poor really narrows the realm of possibilities.  

Chetty - and this was less surprising - was also cited in Robert Putnam's Our Kids, probably my favorite of Putnam's books. 

I actually had the opportunity to see Chetty speak in-person earlier this year when the Royal Society of the Arts awarded him their Benjamin Franklin Medal for his years of paradigm-shattering work. Chetty - with the aid of some instructive PowerPoint slides, chock-full of exciting new data - reinforced his thesis that economic connectedness is, in fact, the key explanatory factor for upward mobility. Other types of social capital, he explained, were less important. 

Vance, by explaining Chetty's thesis about economic mobility in layman's terms, really drives the point home: When everyone around you is impoverished, it is very hard to escape. When individuals of lower socioeconomic status forge connections and relationships with others of higher socioeconomic status, conversely, it is hugely advantageous to the former group. The later brings a lot to the table: professional connections, robust social networks, and a culture of hard work and high expectations. 

The bottom line is that social connection is a powerful tool. Individuals do not exist in a vacuum; we are, inherently, a apart of our environments: our families, friend groups, professional networks, and so on 

Not even the most ideological libertarian actually thinks we can go it alone. 

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