Neighborhood effects, college education, and social mobility

This study models the impact of environmental factors on upward social mobility, where the educational environment is measured by the proportion of college-educated individuals, and social mobility is measured by a change in proportion of people in different income classes. The dynamics of the educational environment is modeled using a modified version of the invasion/extinction ecological model of Richard Levins. The educational environment influences the educational choices of poor people, becoming effective only after a threshold point is reached. The rate of growth in influence is modeled using a monotonically increasing saturation function, which includes a delay parameter referred to as handling time, that measures the speed of influence. Our simulations indicate that poor people choose to become educated at a rate that primarily depends on the density of the local environment. •The environment is modeled as a version of the Levins’ equation for patch colonization.•Social mobility may be altered through education decisions across income categories.•This framework explores nonlinear neighborhood effects on choices of the underprivileged.•The speed of demonstration effect may alter the time needed to reach educational goals.