Professor Tom Kemeny Wins Editor’s Choice Award for Best Paper in 2024

Professor Tom Kemeny is co-author of the article "Who gets left behind by left behind places?" which received the Editor’s Choice award for Best Paper in 2024 from the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, a leading journal in the field.

The study analyzes how growing up in economically "left behind" areas in the U.S. affects children's future outcomes. Using data from over 20,000 places between 1980 and 2018, it identifies two types of left behind places—long-term and recently declining—and finds that children raised in these areas experience significantly lower adult income ranks, even when household income is held constant. These areas have lasting "scarring effects" that hinder social mobility and deepen intergenerational inequality, with limited impact from economic recovery or relocation.

The paper, co-written with Dylan S. Connor, Aleksander K. Berg, and Peter J. Kedron, examines how growing up in economically disadvantaged areas in the United States affects social mobility and long-term income outcomes.

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