Ep. 99: The wrong side of the tracks

The place where a child grows up in America shapes their economic future to a significant degree . One long-suspected explanation is racial segregation, but proving whether segregation actually causes worse outcomes—rather than just correlating with them—has been challenging for economists. In a paper in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , authors Eric Chyn , Kareem Haggag , and Bryan A. Stuart provide evidence that racial segregation shapes the long-run economic prospects of American children. Using the placement of railroad tracks in the 19th century, they found that a one standard deviation increase in segregation—roughly the gap between Minneapolis and Philadelphia—cost a Black child from a poor family about $4,200 a year in income as an adult. While lower-income Black children were hit the hardest, segregation also hurt higher-income Black children and lower-income White children. Chyn recently spoke with Tyler Smith about why segregation hurts low-income kids in particular and what his findings imply for policymakers.

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Ep. 99: The wrong side of the tracks is an episode from AEA Research Highlights by American Economic Association.

This episode is 15:50 long.

This episode was published on May 15, 2026.

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