The Geography of Poverty: Exploring the Role of Neighborhoods in the Lives of Urban, Adolescent Poor Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

In the American canon of anti-poverty programs, Moving to Opportunity (MTO)-a home experiment conducted in the 1990s-stood out for its ambitious yet simple design. Under the experiment, more than 4,600 incredibly poor families were randomly assigned to receive housing vouchers in five major American cities. Much like in clinical trials, MTO gave social scientists the possibility to untangle the effect of place on poverty, and to learn if a better area could directly improve the lives of the poor.

The Geography of Poverty Exploring the Role of Neighborhoods in the Lives of Urban, Adolescent Poor case solution

In 2003, a mid term evaluation of MTO shown a surprising and controversial result. Teen girls appeared to benefit far more from their new environment than teen boys after being put in neighborhoods with low poverty. The rigorous empirical analysis of the MTO experiment had identified significant differences by sex, but could not explain encounters or the social processes that led to those differences. A different research methodology would need to analyze what the quantitative data could not.

This case outline the qualitative research carried out by Harvard sociologist Kathryn Edin and others on MTO teenagers. With the help of indepth interviews the researchers provide a deeper understanding of behavioral patterns and the daily experiences that shaped the dissimilar outcomes between MTO male and female teens. Case Number 2007.0

PUBLICATION DATE: December 02, 2013 PRODUCT #: HKS779-HCB-ENG

This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE

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