Intergenerational Income Mobility and the Feelings of White People (with Lars Osberg & Stephen Law). Revisions requested by Social Forces.
Abstract: More inclusive growth may foster white nationalism. Using the US Opportunity Atlas, we find positive intergenerational income rank mobility for visible minority groups and negative mobility for Whites in most US census tracts – i.e., an erosion of `White privilege'. Using the 2016 American National Election Study, we show that US-born White males in states with less intergenerational income rank mobility expressed more authoritarian ideals, greater support for Trump, and increasingly more negative feelings toward inclusivity. In states where at least one visible minority group had above average income rank mobility, these attitudes became stronger - but were tempered when Whites also experienced above average income rank mobility. Further, the impact of income rank mobility on the attitudes of US-born Whites was driven by residents of `blue wall' states, and those with above-average GDP growth. Consequently, relative growth matters, fostering increased interest in populist ideals among groups whose rank mobility declined.
Evaluating policies to improve food affordability, nutrition and food security in Canada's remote Northern communities (with Nicholas Li, Tracey Galloway, & Angela Daley).
Abstract: Canada's remote Northern communities have persistently high rates of food insecurity due to incomes that are low relative to the high price of food and other goods. The Federal government mitigates food insecurity through income supports - ranging from national entitlements like child benefits to recent region-specific measures like the Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI) - and through the Nutrition North Canada (NNC) retail subsidy that lowers prices for select foods shipped to remote communities. Using administrative and household survey data, in addition to exogenous variation from recent enhancements to child benefits and retail subsidies, we provide the first systematic quantitative evaluation and comparison of these programs regarding their per dollar impacts on nutritious food shipments and food insecurity, along with an analysis of their distributional effects. Our analysis highlights an important policy trade-off, as current NNC food subsidies are more effective at increasing nutritious food shipments and reducing marginal food insecurity, but child benefits -- including both means tested benefits and universal benefits like the ICFI Hamlet Food Voucher Program - are much more progressive and effective at reducing severe child food insecurity.
Rule of thumb: Intimate partner violence in Ecuador (with Paola Beneras).
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of a woman's financial resources on the probability of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ecuador. The 2011 wave of the National Survey on Family Relations and Gendered Violence Against Women includes a suite of economic well-being questions, differentiating between stocks and flows of economic resources, the extent of their liquidity, and a relative comparison between the husband and wife concerning to whom these resources belong. Results show that a woman's access to money for personal expenses is strongly associated with a lower probability of violence. And, this relationship extends to physical, psychological, social, and economic violence, while also being independent of controls for income, assets, relative earnings, and education. Further, results persist when using doubly robust regression techniques to address compositional differences concerning economic resources. These findings support a household bargaining model, whereby having money for personal expenses increases a woman's `threat point' as it concerns leaving a relationship. In particular, it affords them greater protection against `male backlash' -- i.e., a man asserting their dominance via force because of a woman's economic well-being. Consequently, policies providing short-term financial relief to women leaving relationships may help reduce the prevalence of IPV in Ecuador.