Working Paper: NBER ID: w20990
Authors: Scott A. Imberman; Michael Naretta; Margaret O'Rourke
Abstract: While prior research has found clear impacts of schools and school quality on property values, little is known about whether charter schools have similar effects. Using sale price data for residential properties in Los Angeles County from 2008 to 2011 we estimate the neighborhood level impact of charter schools on housing prices. Using an identification strategy that relies on census block fixed-effects and variation in charter penetration over time, we find little evidence that the availability of charter schools affect housing prices on average. However, we do find that when restricting to charter schools located in the same school district as the household, housing prices outside Los Angeles Unified School District fall in response to an increase in nearby charter penetration.
Keywords: charter schools; property values; housing market; education economics
JEL Codes: H41; I21; I22; R21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Availability of charter schools (I21) | Housing prices (R31) |
| Increase in nearby charter penetration (L96) | Housing prices (R31) |
| 10 percentage point increase in charter share of enrollment within 0.5 miles (I24) | Housing prices (R31) |