Working Paper: NBER ID: w28573
Authors: Matthew Freedman; Shantanu Khanna; David Neumark
Abstract: The Opportunity Zone program, created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, was designed to encourage investment in distressed communities across the U.S. We examine the early impacts (up to one-and-a-half years after enactment) of the Opportunity Zone program on residents of targeted areas. We leverage restricted-access microdata from the American Community Survey and employ a matching approach to estimate causal reduced-form effects of the program. Our results point to little or no evidence of positive effects of the Opportunity Zone program on the employment, earnings, or poverty of zone residents.
Keywords: Opportunity Zones; Economic Development; Employment; Earnings; Poverty
JEL Codes: H25; H73; J23; R38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Opportunity Zone program (R38) | employment rates (J68) |
| Opportunity Zone program (R38) | average earnings for employed residents (J31) |
| Opportunity Zone designation (R38) | local poverty rates (I32) |
| pre-designation trends (R28) | Opportunity Zone program effects (R38) |
| IPW approach (F50) | estimates of program's effects (C80) |