Keith Ihlanfeldt, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and DeVoe Moore Eminent Scholar at Florida State University, authored an article in the journal The Review of Regional Studies titled “Neighborhood Land Uses as Predictors of the Upward Mobility of Poor Youth.” Below is a summary of the article written by doctoral student Martin Gandur (Ph.D. Political Science’ 25).
In “Neighborhood Land Uses as Predictors of the Upward Mobility of Poor Youth,” Keith Ihlanfeldt, Ph.D., examines whether the land uses within the neighborhoods where poor youth grow up helps to predict their welfare as adults. To do so, Dr. Ihlanfeldt explores the characteristics of neighborhoods that provide upward mobility.
Dr. Ihlanfeldt finds that land uses within the neighborhood where youth grew up are important predictors of individuals’ household income as adults, as well as teenage births rates. For example, among those poor individuals who grew up in neighborhoods with larger number of multifamily apartments, single-family rental homes, or mobile homes, their household income as adults is smaller. Also, a larger number of alcohol-serving establishments tend to decrease the adult household incomes of poor youth. The results are similar for predicting teenage birth rates. Among poor female youth, growing up in neighborhoods with more multifamily housing, single-family rentals, mobile homes, and alcoholic establishments increases the likelihood of having children as teenagers.
The research by Dr. Ihlanfeldt identifies neighborhoods that provide upward mobility. Importantly, this study can help tailor policies to either make the home neighborhoods of disadvantaged youth more like these neighborhoods or enable the guardians of these children to move into these places.
A substantial body of evidence has found that neighborhood land use is associated with the physical, emotional, and cognitive development of youth. In Florida, tax rolls allow the identification of a wide range of neighborhood land uses, including residential properties (single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments), alcohol-serving outlets, public parks, total commercial properties, total industrial properties, and vacant lots (residential, commercial, and industrial). Dr. Ihlanfeldt’s review of the literature highlights the effects that these land uses may have on youth development, which suggests that they may be successful predictors of adult outcomes.
Dr. Ihlanfeldt collects data on land uses within the neighborhood where individuals resided while aged 12 to 17. This information includes percentages of housing units in the neighborhood (multifamily, condominiums, mobile homes, and single-family rentals) and number of parks and alcohol-serving establishments, among other indicators of land use. These data come from the 1995 county tax rolls that each county is required to submit to the Florida Department of Revenue. Dr. Ihlanfeldt uses tax rolls for 58 of Florida’s 67 counties, resulting in 3582 tracts, representing 81% of the total tracts within the state. Moreover, Dr. Ihlanfeldt uses the Opportunity Atlas dataset to obtain two measures of welfare of the neighborhood’s youth as adults: adult income mean percentile rank for youth whose parents were in the 25th percentile, and teenage birth rates of poor youth.
Dr. Ihlanfeldt’s article suggests that future research should focus on the specific characteristics of neighborhoods more favorable to youth (such as yard space, low crime, good schools, and positive peer group effects).
To read the full research report, click here. To learn more about the FSU Department of Economics, visit coss.fsu.edu/economics.
APA Citation:
Ihlanfeldt, K. (2022). Neighborhood land uses as predictors of the upward mobility of poor youth. Review of Regional Studies, 52(1). https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.34681