Political Decentralization and Equality of Opportunity

A large body of empirical research confirms that within the United States, residential location shapes the geography of economic opportunity. This chapter explores the normative implications of these findings by examining the salience of one of the most important contributors to geographic inequalities of opportunity: political decentralization. The chapter examines the standard liberal egalitarian model of equality of opportunity and explores the ways that political decentralization exacerbates spatial inequalities in opportunity. Although political decentralization provides certain benefits to mobile households, these benefits do not lessen the concern that political decentralization fosters residential segregation, interjurisdictional fiscal inequities, and unequal access to opportunity-enhancing resources. The connection between political decentralization and inequality of opportunity raises several questions that point to a need to rethink the traditional forms of compensation for unequal opportunities proposed by liberal egalitarian philosophers.