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Living Segregated Lives

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (PST)

Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Plaza A
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University

Social Capital around the World

Michael Bailey
,
Meta
Drew Johnston
,
Meta and Harvard University
Theresa Kuchler
,
New York University-Stern
Ayush Kumar
,
New York University-Stern
Johannes Stroebel
,
New York University-Stern

Abstract

Using data from over 2 trillion friendship links between 2.5 billion Facebook users, we build and analyze sub-national measures of social capital for nearly 200 countries. We connect our measures of social capital to external measures of intergenerational mobility, and find that cross-class ties are strongly associated with upward mobility in all contexts we study, while other measures of social capital have relationships that vary across countries.

Workplace Segregation between College and Non-College Workers

Francis Dillon
,
Harvard University
Edward L. Glaeser
,
Harvard University
William Robert Kerr
,
Harvard University

Abstract

We measure the level and growth of education segregation in American workplaces from 2000 to 2020. American workplaces show an educational segregation, measured by the degree to which the establishment has mostly workers of similar education levels, that is comparable to racial residential segregation in a typical metro area. The isolation of non-college workers is increasing over time. In companion work, we document that the career trajectories of non-college workers are diminished when they are in establishments in 2000 that contain fewer college-educated workers. This relationship holds in extensive analyses that consider workplace skill shares and densities that surround the establishments and the residence of the worker. Using multiple exogenous events that lead to large changes in work skill sets (e.g., firm liquidation events, mergers and acquisitions), we quantify how the surrounding skilled worker share influences career levels and growth in wage trajectories.

Polarizing Corporations: Does Talent Flow to “Good’’ Firms?

Emanuele Colonnell
,
University of Chicago
Timothy James McQuade
,
University of California-Berkeley
Gabriel Ramos
,
Imperial College London
Thomas Rauter
,
University of Chicago
Olivia Xiong
,
University of Chicago

Abstract

We conduct a field experiment in partnership with the largest job platform in Brazil to study how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices of firms affect talent allocation. We find both an average job-seeker’s preference for ESG and a large degree of heterogeneity across socioeconomic groups, with the strongest preference displayed by highly educated, white, and politically liberal individuals. We combine our experimental estimates with administrative matched employer-employee microdata and estimate an equilibrium model of the labor market. Counterfactual analyses suggest ESG practices increase total economic output and worker welfare, while increasing the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers.
JEL Classifications
  • J7 - Labor Discrimination
  • M5 - Personnel Economics