From Marcy to Madison Square? The Effects of Growing Up in Public Housing on Early Adulthood Outcomes (with Amanda Eng) [Job Market Paper]
Working Paper
This paper studies the effects of growing up in public housing in New York City on children’s long-run outcomes. Using linked administrative data, we exploit variation in the age children move into public housing to estimate the effects of spending an additional year of childhood in public housing on a range of economic and social outcomes in early adulthood. We find that childhood exposure to public housing improves labor market outcomes and reduces participation in federal safety net programs, particularly for children from the most disadvantaged families. Additionally, we find there is some heterogeneity in impacts across public housing developments. Developments located in neighborhoods with relatively fewer renters and higher household incomes are better for children overall. Our estimate of the marginal value of public funds suggests that for every $1 the government spends per child on public housing, children receive $1.40 in benefits, including $2.30 for children from the most disadvantaged families.
Previous research finds the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) increased the political power of Black communities. I analyze the broader effects of minority enfranchisement on local public finances by exploiting spatial discontinuities in the application of special provisions of the VRA. I find that among counties targeted by these special provisions, those with larger non-white population shares exhibited relative declines in revenues and expenditures, and relative increases in government fragmentation. The findings suggest that declines in revenues were not mechanical responses to changes in the tax base, but were instead likely due to changing preferences for public goods.
In 1998, Houston reformed its subdivision ordinance to relax minimum lot sizes in parts of the city. I exploit the spatial discontinuity in where the reform was targeted and use a difference-in-differences design to analyze the effects of the reform on housing markets. I find that, where minimum lot sizes were relaxed, housing supply increased and average lot sizes decreased. Neighborhoods targeted by the reform saw increases in housing prices and new homeowners were more likely to be white and to have higher incomes.