The in-class exercises we did in week 4 don’t have clear-cut “right answers”, but they’re important questions for social scientists to study. So instead of me giving you solutions, we’ll look at the following piece highlighting examples of how economists have used historical awareness, data, and simulations to explore the persistent causal effects of housing segregation on wealth and income inequality.
The NYT pieces are available on Canvas. They pieces are from the NYT UpShot, so reading these will also help you get a sense of the kind of writing style I’m looking for in your blog posts.
This assignment will be worth 4 points, and is due by October 9th, 2020. I will review your submissions for completion credit and provide brief feedback on your answers. As with all assignments in this class, it is entirely optional. I recommend you spend no more than 3 hours on this.
How redlining’s racist effects lasted for decades ( link to NYT page )
Once you’ve read the article, write a brief answer to the following question:
Imagine you could get the data you needed, but could not run a randomized control trial. How would you design a study to measure the effect of racial housing segregation on educational inequality?
Along the way, consider: what kinds of challenges to drawing a causal inference might you encounter? How would you overcome those challenges?
You may focus your study on a specific area if you wish (for example, if you feel more aware of the historical context of a specific area and can use that context to shape your study design). You may find it helpful to refer to the solutions to previous class assignments (e.g., PS2, CQ1) in shaping your statistical methods,
You may be wondering, what other sources of data can be used? What can we actually do about resolving some of these issues? Raj Chetty is an economist who leads a team tackling issues like these. The UpShot recently wrote about some results from his team’s work on creating an “Opportunity Atlas”. Chetty’s work is at the cutting edge of big data in economics and this piece is well worth your time. The piece ( link to NYT page ), “An Atlas of Upward Mobility Shows Paths Out of Poverty”, is available on Canvas.
Finally, on the subject of persistent effects of racism in Vermont, VPR’s “Brave Little State” segment recently did a piece about the history of Black communities in Vermont. Content warning: this piece contains use of racial slurs and descriptions of violence. You can find the piece here.