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

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  • Brian A. Jacob
  • Max Kapustin
  • Jens Ludwig

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian A. Jacob & Max Kapustin & Jens Ludwig, 2015. "The Impact of Housing Assistance on Child Outcomes: Evidence from a Randomized Housing Lottery," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(1), pages 465-506.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:130:y:2015:i:1:p:465-506
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/qje/qju030
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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