The Effects of Moving to Opportunity on Youth Political Behavior

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

One of the most important findings in political science is that economically disadvantaged people are much less likely to vote, and policy is much less responsive to them. However, researchers do not know if disadvantage actually causes lower political participation, or why it does. Moreover, little is known about how to break the cycle of poverty and low participation. The proposed research uses the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program to test potential interventions to break the cycle. MTO randomly assigned housing vouchers to low-income families for use in the private housing market in low-poverty neighborhoods. By moving these families to less distressed neighborhoods, the vouchers were expected to improve their economic situation. Unfortunately, the vouchers failed to do so for the adults. In failing to increase education and income -factors thought to promote voting - it is not surprising that the MTO program also failed to increase voting. However, the MTO program did improve the economic situation of those who were children. As they grew up, the children completed more education and earned higher incomes. This is consistent with other findings on the powerful long-term impact of early-life experiences. If education and income are indeed causes of voting, then the low-poverty vouchers should have substantially improved the children's participation in the political process as they came of age. Data from MTO will be merged with census tract and public voter file data, to assess whether blunting children's disadvantage allows them to become civic contributors later in life. This research design allows the first examination of the long-term impacts of poverty on political participation. It is also the first test of early exposure to interventions that may increase the participation of economically disadvantaged Americans in the democratic process. Individuals with low levels of education and income are much less likely to vote, and public policy is much less responsive to them. However, while this association is among the most robust and theorized findings in political science, it is based almost entirely on observational data. In addition, the mechanisms for the association remain unclear. Finally, when it comes to the long-term impact of poverty experienced early in life, researchers know still less, because data tracking individuals from childhood into adulthood has been scarce. Moreover, little is known about what interventions might break the cycle of poverty and low participation, and whether these are more effective early in life. The proposed research uses the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment to test the causal effects of poverty on political participation. MTO randomly assigned housing vouchers to low-income families living in public housing for use in the private housing market in low-poverty neighborhoods. It improved the economic situation of those who were children, as they became adults. This is consistent with other findings on the powerful long-term impact of early-life experiences. Building on this framework, low-poverty housing vouchers are expected to substantially improve children's participation in the political process as they come of age. Ameliorating children's disadvantage may increase voting through several pathways: improving their resources (income, education); increasing their access to social networks where voting is more common; and ameliorating their perception that collective problems are intractable. MTO administrative and survey data will be merged with census tract and voter file data. This research design allows the first examination of the long-term impacts of poverty on political participation. It is also the first comparison of early- versus late-childhood exposure to interventions that may later increase the participation of economically disadvantaged Americans in the democratic process. The proposed research advances political science by looking beyond contemporaneous explanations and focusing on early-life experiences that can have a lasting impact on behavior. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.