Working Paper: NBER ID: w16434
Authors: Leah Platt Boustan
Abstract: I examine changes in the city-suburban housing price gap in metropolitan areas with and without court-ordered desegregation plans over the 1970s, narrowing my comparison to housing units on opposite sides of district boundaries. The desegregation of public schools in central cities reduced the demand for urban residence, leading urban housing prices and rents to decline by six percent relative to neighboring suburbs. The aversion to integration was due both to changes in peer composition and to student reassignment to non-neighborhood schools. The associated reduction in the urban tax base imposed a fiscal externality on remaining urban residents.
Keywords: school desegregation; urban housing prices; fiscal externalities
JEL Codes: I28; N92; R21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| court-ordered desegregation of public schools in central cities (R28) | reduction in the demand for urban residence (R21) |
| reduction in the demand for urban residence (R21) | decline in urban housing prices and rents (R31) |
| court-ordered desegregation of public schools in central cities (R28) | decline in urban housing prices (R31) |
| desegregation process (Y40) | significant decline in the urban tax base (R51) |
| decline in the urban tax base (R51) | fiscal externality on remaining urban residents (D62) |
| changes in peer composition and reassignment of students to non-neighborhood schools (R23) | aversion to integration (F15) |
| resistance to desegregation (J79) | regional disparity in attitudes toward integration (R23) |