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Loss in the Time of Cholera: Long-Run Impact of a Disease Epidemic on the Urban Landscape

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  • Attila Ambrus
  • Erica Field
  • Robert Gonzalez

Abstract

How do geographically concentrated income shocks influence the long-run spatial distribution of poverty within a city? We examine the impact on housing prices of a cholera epidemic in one neighborhood of nineteenth century London. Ten years after the epidemic, housing prices are significantly lower just inside the catchment area of the water pump that transmitted the disease. Moreover, differences in housing prices persist over the following 160 years. We make sense of these patterns by building a model of a rental market with frictions in which poor tenants exert a negative externality on their neighbors. This showcases how a locally concentrated income shock can persistently change the tenant composition of a block.

Suggested Citation

  • Attila Ambrus & Erica Field & Robert Gonzalez, 2020. "Loss in the Time of Cholera: Long-Run Impact of a Disease Epidemic on the Urban Landscape," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(2), pages 475-525, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:110:y:2020:i:2:p:475-525
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20190759
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anas, Alex, 1980. "A model of residential change and neighborhood tipping," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 358-370, May.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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    1. Loss in the Time of Cholera: Long-Run Impact of a Disease Epidemic on the Urban Landscape (AER 2020) in ReplicationWiki

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