Working Paper: NBER ID: w20108
Authors: Allison Shertzer; Tate Twinam; Randall P. Walsh
Abstract: Zoning has been cited as a discriminatory policy tool by critics, who argue that ordinances are used to deter the entry of minority residents into majority neighborhoods through density restrictions (exclusionary zoning) and locate manufacturing activity in minority neighborhoods (environmental racism). However, identifying discrimination in these regulations is complicated by the fact that land use and zoning have been co-evolving for nearly a century in most American cities, rendering residential sorting and inequitable treatment observationally equivalent. We employ a novel approach to overcome this challenge, studying the introduction of comprehensive zoning in Chicago. Using fine-scale spatial data on pre-existing land uses and the locations of minority neighborhoods, we find evidence of a pre-cursor to exclusionary zoning that was applied to black neighborhoods. We also find strong evidence of inequitable treatment of both southern black and immigrant neighborhoods with both appearing to have been targeted for increased levels of industrial use zoning.
Keywords: Zoning; Discrimination; Race; Ethnicity; Urban Economics
JEL Codes: K32; N42; Q15; R52
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Higher percentage of black residents (R23) | Higher likelihood of being zoned for higher density buildings (R38) |
| Higher percentage of European immigrants (N33) | Lower likelihood of being zoned for higher density buildings (R38) |
| Higher percentage of southern blacks (J15) | Higher likelihood of being zoned for manufacturing uses (R38) |
| Higher percentage of first-generation immigrants (J69) | Higher likelihood of being zoned for manufacturing uses (R38) |
| Zoning decisions in the 1920s (R38) | Persistent effects on economic geography of Chicago (R12) |