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Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 115 No. 4 2000

Power Couples: Changes in the Locational Choice of the College Educated, 1940-1990

Dora L. Costa1,2; Matthew E. Kahn3

1 National Bureau of Economic Research · 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology · 3 Columbia University

Abstract

College educated couples are increasingly located in large metropolitan areas. These areas were home to 32 percent of all college educated couples in 1940, 39 percent in 1970, and 50 percent in 1990. We investigate whether this trend can be explained by increasing urbanization of the college educated or the growth of dual career households and the resulting severity of the colocation problem. We argue that the latter explanation is the primary one. Smaller cities may therefore experience reduced inflows of human capital relative to the past and thus become poorer.

DOI
10.1162/003355300555079
Volume
115
Issue
4
Pages
1287-1315
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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