Creating Moves to Opportunity: Experimental Evidence on Barriers to Neighborhood Choice
American Economic Review
vol. 114,
no. 5, May 2024
(pp. 1281-1337)
Abstract
Low-income families often live in low-upward-mobility neighborhoods. We study why by using a randomized trial with housing voucher recipients that provided information, financial support, and customized search assistance to move to high-opportunity neighborhoods. The treatment increased the fraction moving to high-upward-mobility areas from 15 to 53 percent. A second trial reveals this treatment effect is driven primarily by customized search assistance. Qualitative interviews show that the intervention relaxed bandwidth constraints and addressed family-specific needs. Our findings imply many low-income families do not have strong preferences to stay in low-opportunity areas and that barriers in housing search significantly increase residential segregation by income.Citation
Bergman, Peter, Raj Chetty, Stefanie DeLuca, Nathaniel Hendren, Lawrence F. Katz, and Christopher Palmer. 2024. "Creating Moves to Opportunity: Experimental Evidence on Barriers to Neighborhood Choice." American Economic Review, 114 (5): 1281-1337. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20200407Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- G51 Household Finance: Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
- R21 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Housing Demand
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- R31 Housing Supply and Markets
- R38 Production Analysis and Firm Location: Government Policy