Moving to opportunity: Student trajectories in the post-Bologna university system in Denmark

This paper examines whether the implementation of the Bologna bachelor’s + master’s structure has been followed by an increase of university students from under-represented groups, and whether the Bologna structure has been accompanied by new forms of student mobility between Danish university institutions. Looking at student movements from bachelor’s to master’s degrees from 1993 to 2011, I do not find that the implementation of the Bologna structure has been followed by changes in the inclusion of under-represented groups. The social gap in progression to master’s degrees remained small and constant across the period. However, the formal instalment of a new transition point in the Danish university system (from bachelor’s to master’s) has provided bachelor’s degree holders with the opportunity to flee less lucrative fields of study and less prestigious institutions, and they increasingly do so. I discuss the implications of these movements in the light of the aim to make higher education more inclusive.

Moving to opportunity: Student trajectories in the post-Bologna university system in Denmark

This paper examines whether the implementation of the Bologna bachelor’s + master’s structure has been followed by an increase of university students from under-represented groups, and whether the Bologna structure has been accompanied by new forms of student mobility between Danish university institutions. Looking at student movements from bachelor’s to master’s degrees from 1993 to 2011, I do not find that the implementation of the Bologna structure has been followed by changes in the inclusion of under-represented groups. The social gap in progression to master’s degrees remained small and constant across the period. However, the formal instalment of a new transition point in the Danish university system (from bachelor’s to master’s) has provided bachelor’s degree holders with the opportunity to flee less lucrative fields of study and less prestigious institutions, and they increasingly do so. I discuss the implications of these movements in the light of the aim to make higher education more inclusive.

Neighborhood effects and housing vouchers

Researchers and policy makers have explored the possibility of restricting the use of housing vouchers to neighborhoods that may positively affect the outcomes of children. Using the framework of a dynamic model of optimal location choice, we estimate preferences over neighborhoods of likely recipients of housing vouchers in Los Angeles. We combine simulations of the model with estimates of how locations affect adult earnings of children to understand how a voucher policy that restricts neighborhoods in which voucher‐recipients may live affects both the location decisions of households and the adult earnings of children. We show the model can nearly replicate the impact of the Moving to Opportunity experiment on the adult wages of children. Simulations suggest a policy that restricts housing vouchers to the top 20% of neighborhoods maximizes expected aggregate adult earnings of children of households offered these vouchers.

Does the Temporal Pattern of Moving to a Higher Quality Neighborhood across a 5-Year Period Predict Psychological Distress among Adolescents? Results from a Federal Housing Experiment

Using the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment (1994-2002), this study examined how a multidimensional measure of neighborhood quality over time influenced adolescent psychological distress, using instrumental variable (IV) analysis. Neighborhood quality was operationalized with an independently-validated 19-indicator child opportunity index (COI), linked to MTO family addresses over 4-7 years. We examined if being randomized to receive a housing subsidy (versus remaining in public housing) predicted neighborhood quality across time. Using IV analysis, we tested if experimentally induced differences in COI across time predicted psychological distress (N=2829; Mean(standard deviation (SD)) = -.04(1.12)). The MTO voucher treatment improved neighborhood quality for children compared to in-place controls. A one-SD change in COI since baseline predicted 0.32 point lower psychological distress for girls (B(95%CI)= -0.32 (-0.61, -0.03)). Results were comparable but less precisely estimated when operationalizing neighborhood quality as simply average post-random assignment COI, (B(95%CI)= -0.36(-0.74, 0.02). Effect estimates based on a COI excluding poverty and on the most recent COI measure were slightly larger than other operationalizations of neighborhood quality. Improving a multidimensional measure of neighborhood quality led to reductions in low-income girls’ psychological distress, and this was estimated with high internal validity using IV methods.

Moving to Opportunity, or Aging in Place? The Changing Profile of Low Income and Subsidized Households and Where They Live

The profile of households receiving rental assistance has changed over time, yet much of the policy and political dialogue surrounding rental assistance has not. Understanding the changing profile of subsidized households is important to evaluating the role of rental subsidies, particularly in the context of neighborhood access. This paper analyzes how the composition of subsidized households has changed over time, and how this relates to existing measures of neighborhood opportunity. We find that since 2000, the share of subsidized households headed by seniors grew, while the share with children dropped. In particular, households using vouchers used to be young relative to the general population and to households in other housing subsidy programs but have aged rapidly. We also find that current neighborhood amenity measures do not reflect these changes, and we use a national analysis and a case study of southeastern Pennsylvania to test alternative metrics.

Evidence of Neighborhood Effects from Moving to Opportunity: Lates of Neighborhood Quality

This paper estimates neighborhood effects on adult labor market outcomes using the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) housing mobility experiment. We propose and implement a new strategy for identifying transition-specific effects that exploits identification of the unobserved component of a neighborhood choice model. Estimated local average treatment effects (LATEs) are large, result from moves between the first and second deciles of the national distribution of neighborhood quality, and pertain to a subpopulation of nine percent of program participants.

Do Neighborhoods Affect the Credit Market Decisions of Low-Income Borrowers? Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment

This paper isolates the causal impact of neighborhood environment on the credit outcomes of low-income borrowers by analyzing the participants of the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment. MTO was a unique, large-scale experiment that offered families vouchers to move to better neighborhoods via randomized lottery. We find higher credit scores and use among those required to move to the lowest poverty areas as young children. For those who moved as adults, we find that better neighborhoods lead to a reduction of overdue debts and delinquencies, but only among those given unrestricted neighborhood choice.