Open AccessThe Neighbourhood is Not What it Used to be *
Author(s) -
Raaum Oddbjørn,
Salvanes Kjell G.,
Sørensen Erik Ø.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.683
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1468-0297
pISSN - 0013-0133
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2006.01053.x
Subject(s) - neighbourhood (mathematics) , economic geography , economics , mathematics , mathematical analysis
Using a variance decomposition framework that bounds the effect of families and neighbourhoods, we find important effects of family characteristics and residential location on adult education and earnings in Norway. Neighbourhoods are less important than families, as the correlations among siblings are significantly higher than among children growing up in the same local community. The impact of neighbourhoods is reduced by half from 1960 to 1970. We link this result to several policy changes in the 1960s aimed at increasing equality of opportunity in Norway. Neighbour correlations in Norway are found to be significantly lower than in the US.