Stuck! The Law and Economics of Residential Stagnation

America has become a nation of homebodies. Rates of interstate mobility, by most estimates, have been falling for decades. Interstate mobility rates are particularly low and stagnant among disadvantaged groups - despite a growing connection between mobility and economic opportunity. Perhaps most importantly, mobility is declining in regions where it is needed most.

Americans are not leaving places hit by economic crises, resulting in unemployment rates and low wages that linger in these areas for decades. And people are not moving to rich regions where the highest wages are available.