The Energy Link: Energy Producing States and Social Mobility

American Legislator ^ | 4-1-15 | John Eick

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

A couple years ago, scholars from Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley tried to determine which regions around the country offered higher rates of youth mobility for children born to parents with low-incomes. Interestingly, the greatest areas for mobility are the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions. Many states in this region – North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado, for example – have long welcomed energy development within their borders and have embraced the recent advances in mining and drilling technologies that led to the mid-2010s nationwide energy boom.

When the above map is compared to one showing the various oil and gas producing shale plays across the country, it’s hard not to notice the commonalities. Even areas in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania that lie atop the Marcellus shale play appear to offer more mobility than adjacent regions. This data may suggest that energy development doesn’t just boost economic development or individual income, but may also help with economic and social mobility.

[phormer phrog phlyer]

This was true in WV until recently, it is going to be at a minimum 2 years before any bounce comes back.

[familyop]

Oh, yeah, send your homeless hordes of youth to the states with oil plays getting stomped by low oil prices, as if those areas needed more of them.

[thackney]

the greatest areas for mobility are the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions. Many states in this region – North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado, for example

Texas is not in the Midwest or near the Rocky Mountains.

[ConstantSkeptic]

How utterly bizarre.

The original research paper stated “These geographical differences in upward mobility are strongly correlated with five primary factors: segregation, income inequality, local school quality, social capital, and family structure.” They also caution that correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

So The American Legislative Exchange Council lifts the map of Intergenerational Mobility from someone else’s research, adds a picture of energy producing states, and implies not only a correlation it hasn’t statistically demonstrated, but implies some sort of causation, something the original research didn’t even attempt with all their data.

This is not how you do statistics!