IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v52y2015icp108-118.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can improvements in schools spur neighborhood revitalization? Evidence from building investments

Author

Listed:
  • Horn, Keren Mertens

Abstract

For most households in the U.S. the public school to which they send their children is tied to the geographic location of their home. Economic theory predicts that households take into account the quality of the public school when making residential decisions. A large body of literature has documented that school quality alters the demand for housing in a neighborhood as measured by the capitalization of school quality into house prices. Demand for schools may also affect the quality of the housing stock by creating incentives for property owners to better maintain their buildings and units. Exploration of this potential relationship has been absent from the discussion on how schools influence communities. I attempt to fill this gap through investigating the relationship between school quality and capital investments in the housing stock. To investigate whether a relationship exists between schools and property owner capital investment activity, I rely on detailed building level investment data in New York City as well as measures of school performance. I explore whether consistent measures of school performance are associated with higher levels of investment activity. To identify whether this relationship is causal, that good schools can spur investment activity, I incorporate a boundary discontinuity identification strategy. Further, I test whether households respond to changes in school performance, exploring whether improvements in test scores over a five-year period are associated with higher levels of residential investments. Finally, I control for differences in populations across attendance zone boundaries through incorporating information on the composition of students at each school. My results suggest a significant relationship between performance in math and English Language Arts and property owner capital investment behavior. In my preferred specification, I estimate that a one standard deviation improvement in test scores is associated with a 2.5 percent increase in dollars invested in a building.

Suggested Citation

  • Horn, Keren Mertens, 2015. "Can improvements in schools spur neighborhood revitalization? Evidence from building investments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 108-118.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:52:y:2015:i:c:p:108-118
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2015.03.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046215000241
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2015.03.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra E. Black, 1999. "Do Better Schools Matter? Parental Valuation of Elementary Education," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 577-599.
    2. Patrick Bayer & Fernando Ferreira & Robert McMillan, 2007. "A Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(4), pages 588-638, August.
    3. Hilber, Christian A.L. & Mayer, Christopher, 2009. "Why do households without children support local public schools? Linking house price capitalization to school spending," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 74-90, January.
    4. Oates, Wallace E, 1969. "The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values: An Empirical Study of Tax Capitalization and the Tiebout Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 77(6), pages 957-971, Nov./Dec..
    5. Mayer, Neil S., 1981. "Rehabilitation decisions in rental housing: An empirical analysis," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 76-94, July.
    6. Haurin, Donald R. & Gill, H. Leroy, 2002. "The Impact of Transaction Costs and the Expected Length of Stay on Homeownership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 563-584, May.
    7. Helms, Andrew C., 2003. "Understanding gentrification: an empirical analysis of the determinants of urban housing renovation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 474-498, November.
    8. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    9. David N. Figlio & Maurice E. Lucas, 2004. "What's in a Grade? School Report Cards and the Housing Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 591-604, June.
    10. Thomas P. Boehm & Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 1986. "The Improvement Expenditures of Urban Homeowners: An Empirical Analysis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 14(1), pages 48-60, March.
    11. Nguyen-Hoang, Phuong & Yinger, John, 2011. "The capitalization of school quality into house values: A review," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 30-48, March.
    12. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale, 2000. "The Effects of 401(k) Plans on Household Wealth: Differences Across Earnings Groups," NBER Working Papers 8032, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gerritsen, Sander & Webbink, Dinand & ter Weel, Bas, 2016. "Sorting around the Discontinuity Threshold: The Case of a Neighbourhood Investment Programme," IZA Discussion Papers 9838, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Sander Gerritsen & Bas ter Weel & Dinand Webbink, 2016. "Sorting around the discontinuity threshold: The case of a neighbourhood investment programme," CPB Discussion Paper 329.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Minrong Zheng, 2022. "Desegregation Litigation and School Quality Capitalization," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 210-227, February.
    4. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Minrong Zheng, 2021. "A Meta‐Analysis of School Quality Capitalization in U.S. House Prices," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1120-1171, December.
    5. Xu, Minhong & Xu, Yilan, 2021. "What happens when Airbnb comes to the neighborhood: The impact of home-sharing on neighborhood investment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Sander Gerritsen & Bas ter Weel & Dinand Webbink, 2016. "Sorting around the discontinuity threshold: The case of a neighbourhood investment programme," CPB Discussion Paper 329, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    7. Sander Gerritsen & Dinand Webbink & Bas Weel, 2017. "Sorting Around the Discontinuity Threshold: The Case of a Neighbourhood Investment Programme," De Economist, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 101-128, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian A. L. Hilber, 2017. "The Economic Implications of House Price Capitalization: A Synthesis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 45(2), pages 301-339, April.
    2. Hilber, Christian A. L., 2011. "The economics implications of house price capitalization a survey of an emerging literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58596, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Xiao, Yue & Wen, Haizhen & Hui, Eddie C.M. & Zhou, Ganghua, 2022. "Dynamic capitalization effects of educational facilities during different market stages: An empirical study in Hangzhou, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    4. Theodore M. Crone, 2006. "Capitalization of the quality of local public schools: what do home buyers value?," Working Papers 06-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    5. Peng, Ying & Tian, Chuanhao & Wen, Haizhen, 2021. "How does school district adjustment affect housing prices: An empirical investigation from Hangzhou, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Xiao Tian & Jin Liu & Yong Liu, 2022. "How Does the Quality of Junior High Schools Affect Housing Prices? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Admission Reform in Chengdu, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Chung, Il Hwan, 2015. "School choice, housing prices, and residential sorting: Empirical evidence from inter-and intra-district choice," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 39-49.
    8. Eli Beracha & William G. Hardin, 2021. "The housing price premium associated with charter schools," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1267-1289, December.
    9. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Velma Zahirovic-Herbert & Minrong Zheng, 2018. "Uncertain School Quality and House Prices: Theory and Empirical Evidence," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 167-191, August.
    10. Baum-Snow, Nathaniel & Ferreira, Fernando, 2015. "Causal Inference in Urban and Regional Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 3-68, Elsevier.
    11. Agarwal, Sumit & Rengarajan, Satyanarain & Sing, Tien Foo & Yang, Yang, 2016. "School allocation rules and housing prices: A quasi-experiment with school relocation events in Singapore," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 42-56.
    12. Depro, Brooks & Rouse, Kathryn, 2015. "The effect of multi-track year-round academic calendars on property values: Evidence from district imposed school calendar conversions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 157-171.
    13. Alexander W. Marré & Anil Rupasingha, 2020. "School quality and rural in‐migration: Can better rural schools attract new residents?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 156-173, January.
    14. Feng, Hao & Lu, Ming, 2013. "School quality and housing prices: Empirical evidence from a natural experiment in Shanghai, China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 291-307.
    15. Reback, Randall, 2005. "House prices and the provision of local public services: capitalization under school choice programs," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 275-301, March.
    16. Hu, Lirong & He, Shenjing & Luo, Yun & Su, Shiliang & Xin, Jing & Weng, Min, 2020. "A social-media-based approach to assessing the effectiveness of equitable housing policy in mitigating education accessibility induced social inequalities in Shanghai, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Yinger, John, 2015. "Hedonic markets and sorting equilibria: Bid-function envelopes for public services and neighborhood amenities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 9-25.
    18. Daniel A. Broxterman & Trenton Chen Jin, 2022. "House Prices, Government Quality, and Voting Behavior," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 179-209, February.
    19. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & Jaren C. Pope, 2014. "Do “Capitalization Effects” For Public Goods Reveal The Public'S Willingness To Pay?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1227-1250, November.
    20. Livy, Mitchell R., 2018. "Intra-school district capitalization of property tax rates," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 227-236.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Residential investment; School performance; House prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:52:y:2015:i:c:p:108-118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.