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Human Capital and Wellbeing

How does economic inequality affect the development of human capital, and to what extent do aggregate trends in human capital explain inequality dynamics?

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The acquisition and deployment of human capital in the market drives advances in productivity. The extent to which someone is rich or poor, experiences family instability, faces discrimination, or grows up in an opportunity-rich or opportunity-poor neighborhood affects future economic outcomes and can subvert the processes that lead to productivity gains, which drive long-term growth.

How does economic inequality affect the development of human capital, and to what extent do aggregate trends in human capital explain inequality dynamics? To what extent can social programs counteract these underlying dynamics? We are interested in proposals that investigate the mechanisms through which economic inequality might work to alter the development of human potential across the generational arc, as well as the policy mechanisms through which inequality’s potential impacts on human capital development and deployment may be mitigated.

  • Economic opportunity and intergenerational mobility
  • Economic instability
  • Family stability
  • Neighborhood characteristics

Explore the Grants We've Awarded

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Preschool attendance and child health: Evidence from state-funded Pre-K programs

Human Capital and Wellbeing

Grant Year: 2016

Grant Amount: $15,000

Grant Type: doctoral

This project seeks to contribute to the literature on the impact of large-scale, publicly-funded preschool education programs on a variety of health and developmental outcomes for children ages 4 to 12. While numerous studies exist on the effects of attending Head Start, there is a dearth of research on state pre-K programs even though they are currently the largest provider of preschool education in the United States. State-funded pre-K programs have been expanding since the 1990s and the calls for universal pre-K continue. This project promises to add useful data to those discussions.

Firms, human capital, and careers

Human Capital and Wellbeing

Grant Year: 2016

Grant Amount: $15,000

Grant Type: doctoral

Building on recent work in labor economics focused on the role of firms, this research seeks to shed light on the importance of firms specifically in the careers of young workers. Using administrative matched employer-employee data, the researcher seeks to document facts regarding access to high-wage firms and movements between high- and low-wage firms over the span of a worker’s career. This has the potential to improve our understanding of cohort inequality as well as potential scarring effects of recessions.

School-to-work transitions and wage outcomes of Texas populations from colonias and model subdivisions

Human Capital and Wellbeing

Grant Year: 2015

Grant Amount: $15,000

Grant Type: doctoral

This project will study the school-to-work transitions and subsequent earnings of Texas high school students. This project will focus on some of Texas’ most socially and economically excluded populations—those living in substandard housing settlements found in unincorporated areas outside Texas border cities. This research will shed light on the efficacy of potential education and workforce interventions to assist impoverished student populations.

Inheriting inequality: Wealth transfers and racial wealth gaps

Human Capital and Wellbeing

Grant Year: 2015

Grant Amount: $15,000

Grant Type: doctoral

Over the past three decades, both wealth inequality and the racial wealth gap have increased significantly. Research shows that inheritances, bequests, and intrafamily transfers account for more of the racial wealth gap than any other demographic and socioeconomic indicators, including education, income, and household structure. This project will examine the significance of intergenerational transfers on wealth inequality overall, and the racial wealth gap specifically, to identify policies that address growing inequality throughout the wealth distribution.

College and intergenerational mobility: New evidence from administrative data

Human Capital and Wellbeing

Grant Year: 2015

Grant Amount: $28,000

Grant Type: academic

Many argue that higher education is one of the best ways to increase intergenerationalmobility. Students from lower-income backgrounds can move up the income ladder if they attend the right college or university. But how equal is access to those schools? If qualified low-income students aren’t attending the schools that provide the most opportunity, then the college attendance process may be retarding upward economic mobility. This research project will look at the role of colleges and universities in transmitting income inequality into the next generation. Using gold-standard restricted-access tax data, the author will identify where students from across the income distribution attend college, and which colleges are improving the economic standing of students up and down the income ladder.

The impact of inequality on young workers’ career progression

Human Capital and Wellbeing

Grant Year: 2015

Grant Amount: $45,000

Grant Type: academic

Research shows that a worker’s first few years in the labor force have outsized effects over their entire lifetime earning’s trajectory. This project will look at how earnings, employment, and job transitions have changed for young workers over the past three decades. The researcher will also look at how rising income inequality affects career outcomes.
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Experts

Janelle Jones
Grantee

Janelle Jones

Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Vice President of Policy and Advocacy

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Linh Tô
Grantee

Linh Tô

Boston University

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Till von Wachter
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Till von Wachter

University of California, Los Angeles

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Fern Ramoutar
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Fern Ramoutar

University of Chicago

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Corey Shdaimah
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Corey Shdaimah

University of Maryland

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Our funding interests are organized around the following four drivers of economic growth: the macroeconomy, human capital and the labor market, innovation, and institutions.

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