Escape from the city?
Subtitle: the role of race, income, and local public goods in post-war suburbanization
By: Leah Platt Boustan.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 13311.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13311.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 44
Subjects: Suburbs -- United States -- 20th century -- Mathematical models; Housing -- Prices -- United States -- 20th century -- Mathematical models
Description: Suburbs allow for sorting across towns, increasing inequality in resources for education and other local public goods. This paper demonstrates that postwar suburbanization was, in part, a flight from the declining income and changing racial composition of city residents. I estimate the marginal willingness to pay for town-level demographics -- holding neighborhood composition constant -- by comparing prices for housing units on either side of city-suburban borders (1960-1980). A one standard deviation increase in residents' median income was associated with a 3.5 percent housing price increase. Homeowners value the fiscal subsidy associated with a higher tax base, and the fiscal isolation from social problems (for example, spending on police). In addition, white households avoided racially diverse jurisdictions, particularly those that experienced rioting or underwent school desegregation.
Notes: "August 2007"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-29).

Also available in PDF from the NBER World Wide Web site (www.nber.org).