Estimating Neighborhood Choice Models: Lessons from a Housing Assistance Experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Galiani, Sebastian; Murphy, Alvin; Pantano, Juan
• 署名单位: University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe; Washington University (WUSTL)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20120737
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 3385-3415
• 关键词: PRIVATE-SCHOOL VOUCHERS; Residential choice; Locational equilibrium; mobility experiment; MARKET; preferences; opportunity; FRAMEWORK; education; benefits

摘要

We use data from a housing-assistance experiment to estimate a model of neighborhood choice. The experimental variation effectively randomizes the rents which households face and helps identify a key structural parameter. Access to two randomly selected treatment groups and a control group allows for out-of-sample validation of the model. We simulate the effects of changing the subsidy-use constraints implemented in the actual experiment. We find that restricting subsidies to even lower poverty neighborhoods would substantially reduce take-up and actually increase average exposure to poverty. Furthermore, adding restrictions based on neighborhood racial composition would not change average exposure to either race or poverty.