Are public housing projects good for kids?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Currie, J; Yelowitz, A
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2727(99)00065-1
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 99-124
• 关键词: public housing; CHILDREN; instrumental variables; welfare; education

摘要

One goal of federal housing policy is to improve the prospects of children in poor families. This paper examines the effect of public housing participation on housing quality and educational attainment. Using the SIPP, we show that living in projects is associated with more negative outcomes for children, although this appears to be due to unobserved heterogeneity. We control for the endogeneity of project participation using TSIV techniques which combine information on project participation from the CPS with information on outcomes from the Census. We find that project households are less likely to suffer from overcrowding or live in high-density complexes. Project children are less likely to have been held back. Thus, our results run counter to the stereotype that housing projects harm children. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.