Manuel Schechtl

Abstract for "The truly isolated: Spatial isolation of advantage in the United States" by Shannon Rieger, Angela Li, and Patrick Sharkey, published at Urban Studies

👉 Our new paper uses daily mobility data to show that spatial isolation is much more common today among those living in advantaged neighborhoods than the converse.

👩🏻‍💻 Lots of massive data wrangling and careful assumptions about mobility data needed - but check it out here! doi.org/10.1177/0042...

🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]

finding out what "Buffy" is right now 😅

The Effect of Rising Income Inequality on Taxation and Public Expenditures: Evidence from U.S. Municipalities and School Districts, 1970–2000 Abstract. The income distribution in many developed countries widened dramatically from 1970 to 2000. Some scholars argue that income inequality contributes to a host of social ills by undermining vot...

Shift-share instruments! 😁 doi.org/10.1162/REST...

The Effect of Increasing Wealth Inequality on U.S. Democracy at the State Level - Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Manuel Schechtl, a 2022–2024 Stone Center postdoctoral scholar, discusses his Stone Center Working Paper, which combines two new sources of data to compare the extent of democratic backsliding in all ...

Rising wealth concentration tends to undermine democracy, according to a Stone Center Working Paper by @schechtlm.bsky.social. In this interview, he discusses how he drew on two new sources of data to compare democratic backsliding in 50 U.S. states.
stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/the-effect-o...

Is childhood exposure to local wealth inequality associated with upward income mobility achieved in adulthood? Yes! Check out my new paper, just published in @natureportfolio.nature.com here: doi.org/10.1038/s414... #EconSky #Sociology #Demography

The association between childhood exposure to local wealth inequality and intergenerational income mobility in the United States - Nature Communications Here the author shows that childhood exposure to higher local wealth inequality is associated with lower upward income mobility for children from families with low incomes

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

One pathway through which childhood exposure to local wealth inequality might influence upward mobility of low-income kids is through its association with educational outcomes.

Simulation exercises suggest that childhood exposure to local wealth inequality is more central to upward mobility than exposure to local income inequality itself.

Combining wealth estimates from geowealth-us and mobility data from opportunity insights, I demonstrate a negative association between childhood exposure to wealth inequality and upward income mobility outcomes later in life.

Is childhood exposure to local wealth inequality associated with upward income mobility achieved in adulthood? Yes! Check out my new paper, just published in @natureportfolio.nature.com here: doi.org/10.1038/s414... #EconSky #Sociology #Demography

Do you have cited posts, reposts, and responses activated to show up on your following feed? This created a way more active timeline for me. Also added pinned feeds by topic. I like that I can customize the whole experience. 😀

I am organizing session 711 Wealth Inequality: International
Comparative Perspectives at PAA 2026. Deadline for submissions is Oct 5th. Non-comparative papers on wealth inequality are also welcome.

I am organizing session 711 Wealth Inequality: International
Comparative Perspectives at PAA 2026. Deadline for submissions is Oct 5th. Non-comparative papers on wealth inequality are also welcome.

Manuel Schechtl will join us at the Stone Center on September 9 to present Rising Wealth Concentration and Disparities in Social Outcomes Across the United States.

ICYMI: See what we're up to in September: mailchi.mp/umich/cid-se...
First up: @schechtlm.bsky.social on September 9! #AcademicSky #PublicPolicy #WealthInequality

Tocqueville on the incompatibility of economic inequality with democracy.

Applications Are Open for Two Postdoctoral Positions at the GC CUNY Stone Center - Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality The Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality is seeking applicants for an eighth cohort of postdoctoral scholars. These full-time, two-year positions will begin in August 2026.

We invite applications for two postdoctoral scholars! These 2-year positions start in Aug. 2026 and are based at the GC CUNY Stone Center in NYC. One is focused on #mobility and #poverty, the other on #wealth and/or wealth inequality. Apply by Nov. 3!
#EconSky #Sociology #PoliSciSky
bit.ly/40TZR6J

Federal place-based policy and the geography of inequality in the United States, 1990–2019 Abstract. This paper assesses the growth and spatial distribution of federal place-based policies in the United States. Using a novel dataset of federal pl

📣 Hot off the press 📣
We document tremendous growth in U.S. federal place-based funding, show it has disproportionately gone to areas with more nonprofits & stronger housing markets, and find a pattern of cumulative advantage in funding among high-poverty neighborhoods.

doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

Unnatural Wills: Inheritance Disputes and Inequality Within the conceptual frame of relational economic sociology, inheritance disputes are a canonical form of relational mismatch. But the social patterning of relational mismatches, and their various t...

I am soo excited to share my newest article, “Unnatural Wills.” It’s about inheritance disputes!!! Murder, gold diggers, sex work, racial passing, secret lesbian lovers…WOW this was fun to write, and I hope it’s fun to read, too.

⚠️ New timely WP ⚠️ Rising wealth inequality and democratic backsliding at the US state-level #EconSky #Sociology #PolicySky
@stone-lis.bsky.social WP here: doi.org/10.31235/osf...

This is based on the geowealth-us data (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) and the state democracy index (democracypolicylab.berkeley.edu/state-democr...)

⚠️ New timely WP ⚠️ Rising wealth inequality and democratic backsliding at the US state-level #EconSky #Sociology #PolicySky
@stone-lis.bsky.social WP here: doi.org/10.31235/osf...

Most studies on the relationship b/w inequality & the erosion of democracy focus on cross-country comparisons, and on income rather than wealth. A new WP by @schechtlm.bsky.social looks at how rising state‐level wealth inequality in the US is associated with democratic backsliding.
bit.ly/3IuD1w5

Gender and wealth accumulation: an international perspective Abstract. Why do women accumulate less wealth than men globally? As wealth inequality rises both within countries and worldwide, studies on gender and weal

1/10 🚨Why do women accumulate less wealth than men across countries and time?

I had the privilege of co-directing the latest Special Issue of #SER @sasemeeting.bsky.social with @celinebessiere.bsky.social on gender and wealth accumulation. 🧵 ⤵️

academic.oup.com/ser/article/...

MapAgora, civic opportunity datasets for the study of American local politics and public policy - Scientific Data Scientific Data - MapAgora, civic opportunity datasets for the study of American local politics and public policy

🚨 New paper alert!
Thrilled to share my latest paper (a joint work with Milan de Vries and Hahrie Han)—now out in Nature Scientific Data!
We introduce 5 datasets on civic opportunity in America, built from IRS tax records + 1.7M nonprofit websites.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"The Influence of Inheritances on Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries"

By @morellisal.bsky.social, Brian Nolan, @juancpal.bsky.social, & Philippe Van Kerm

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#econsky #publiceconomics #publicfinance

At the blog I wrote about five cool new articles on gender inequality:

inappropriate engineering job talk intros
physician culture
demographic inequalities in health degrees --> health jobs
care work trends
tax policies

Very neat articles this week.

asocial.substack.com/p/mondays-go...

Thanks, Amalie!

I have a new paper out! "Should Social Insurance Programs Count as Wealth? Augmented Wealth in Research and Policy." Published yesterday in Socio-Economic Review @sasemeeting.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Thanks, Meredith!