East-Side Story: Historical Pollution and Persistent Neighborhood Sorting

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Heblich, Stephan; Trew, Alex; Zylberberg, Yanos
• 署名单位: University of Toronto; University of Glasgow; University of Bristol
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/713101
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1508-1552
• 关键词: air; gentrification; mortality; GROWTH; models; rise

摘要

Why are the east sides of formerly industrial cities more deprived? To answer this question, we use individual-level census data and create historical pollution patterns derived from the locations of 5,000 industrial chimneys and an atmospheric model. We show that this observation results from path-dependent neighborhood sorting that began during the Industrial Revolution, as prevailing winds blew pollution eastward. Past pollution explains up to 20% of observed neighborhood segregation in 2011, even though coal pollution stopped in the 1970s. We develop a quantitative model to identify the role of neighborhood effects and relocation rigidities underlying this persistence.