I’ve been thinking about alternative reasons why people living in rich neighborhoods of poor counties are happier.
Maybe the happiness-promoting physical qualities of neighborhoods (green space, lack of noise, feeling safe) correlate with income when they vary between counties, but not when they vary within counties.
I’d expect the poorest part of Pittsburgh to be about equal to the poorest part of northern New Jersey, and the same for the richest parts. (Perhaps less fancy, but I suspect granite doesn’t affect happiness that much.) The New Jersey county is more expensive because it’s near high paying NYC jobs, not because it’s that much nicer.
People move to neighborhoods based on niceness, but counties based on job proximity (mostly). The market reflects this, by putting a premium on job availability but not other county-wide traits, like weather. (If this wasn’t true, I’d expect southern US real estate to be more expensive in relation to average income than northern real estate.)
I’ve been thinking about alternative reasons why people living in rich neighborhoods of poor counties are happier.
Maybe the happiness-promoting physical qualities of neighborhoods (green space, lack of noise, feeling safe) correlate with income when they vary between counties, but not when they vary within counties.
I’d expect the poorest part of Pittsburgh to be about equal to the poorest part of northern New Jersey, and the same for the richest parts. (Perhaps less fancy, but I suspect granite doesn’t affect happiness that much.) The New Jersey county is more expensive because it’s near high paying NYC jobs, not because it’s that much nicer.
People move to neighborhoods based on niceness, but counties based on job proximity (mostly). The market reflects this, by putting a premium on job availability but not other county-wide traits, like weather. (If this wasn’t true, I’d expect southern US real estate to be more expensive in relation to average income than northern real estate.)