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The role of education for amenity based sorting in British cities

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  • Gagliardi, Luisa
  • Schlüter, Teresa

Abstract

This paper investigates the relation between amenities and skills by looking at the sorting behavior of skilled individuals across neighbourhoods within British cities. Using a detailed micro dataset on housing transactions we recover a composite measure of local amenities that captures the level of attractiveness of each neighbourhood. By combining the amenity measure with data on British individuals we analyse how the cost associated with the consumption of amenities is distributed across education groups and across neighborhoods within cities defined as integrated labour markets. Results show that, holding constant the availability of job opportunities, high skilled individuals exhibit a moderate preference bias towards amenity consumption as they tend to sort into more attractive neighborhoods than lower skilled individuals with the same income.

Suggested Citation

  • Gagliardi, Luisa & Schlüter, Teresa, 2015. "The role of education for amenity based sorting in British cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65017, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:65017
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/65017/
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • R22 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Other Demand
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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