The Impact of Housing Assistance on Child Outcomes: Evidence from a Randomized Housing Lottery

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jacob, Brian A.; Kapustin, Max; Ludwig, Jens
• 署名单位: University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qju030
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 465-506
• 关键词: family income; achievement; neighborhoods; opportunity

摘要

One long-standing motivation for low-income housing programs is the possibility that housing affordability and housing conditions generate externalities, including on children's behavior and long-term life outcomes. We take advantage of a randomized housing voucher lottery in Chicago in 1997 to examine the long-term impact of housing assistance on a wide variety of child outcomes, including schooling, health, and criminal involvement. In contrast to most prior work focusing on families in public housing, we focus on families living in unsubsidized private housing at baseline, for whom voucher receipt generates large changes in both housing and nonhousing consumption. We find that the receipt of housing assistance has little, if any, impact on neighborhood or school quality or on a wide range of important child outcomes. JEL Codes: D10, H23, I38.