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Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal in the United States

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  • William J. Collins
  • Katharine L. Shester

Abstract

We study the local effects of a federal program that helped cities clear areas for redevelopment, rehabilitate structures, complete city plans, and enforce building codes. We use an instrumental variable strategy to estimate the program's effects on city-level measures of income, property values, employment and poverty rates, and population. The estimated effects on income, property values, and population are positive and economically significant. They are not driven by changes in demographic composition. Estimated effects on poverty reduction and employment are positive but imprecise. The results are consistent with a model in which local productivity is enhanced.

Suggested Citation

  • William J. Collins & Katharine L. Shester, 2011. "Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal in the United States," NBER Working Papers 17458, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17458
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    2. Sylvain Chareyron & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Lucie Letrouit, 2019. "Impacts of a French urban renewal program on local housing markets," Post-Print halshs-02353718, HAL.
    3. Yang Bai & Wei Zhou & Yanjun Guan & Xue Li & Baohua Huang & Fengchun Lei & Hong Yang & Wenmin Huo, 2020. "Evolution of Policy Concerning the Readjustment of Inefficient Urban Land Use in China Based on a Content Analysis Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Shi, Ying & Hartley, Daniel & Mazumder, Bhash & Rajan, Aastha, 2022. "The effects of the Great Migration on urban renewal," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    5. Omer Ozgen, 2020. "Impact of Slum Redevelopment Projects on Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Addis Ababa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2020-23, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Guiwen Liu & Zhiyong Yi & Xiaoling Zhang & Asheem Shrestha & Igor Martek & Lizhen Wei, 2017. "An Evaluation of Urban Renewal Policies of Shenzhen, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Sumit Agarwal & Yanying Chen & Jing Li & Yi Jin Tan, 2021. "Hedonic Price of Housing Space," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 574-609, June.
    8. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Daniel Aaronson & Daniel Hartley & Bhashkar Mazumder & Martha Stinson, 2023. "The Long-Run Effects of the 1930s Redlining Maps on Children," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 846-862, September.
    10. Leah Platt Boustan & Devin Bunten & Owen Hearey, 2013. "Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000," Working Papers 2013-7, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    11. Chen, Daniel L. & Yeh, Susan, 2016. "Government Expropriation Increases Economic Growth and Racial Inequality: Evidence from Eminent Domain," TSE Working Papers 16-693, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    12. Albanese, Giuseppe & Ciani, Emanuele & de Blasio, Guido, 2021. "Anything new in town? The local effects of urban regeneration policies in Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Valeria Saiu, 2020. "Evaluating Outwards Regeneration Effects (OREs) in Neighborhood-Based Projects: A Reversal of Perspective and the Proposal for a New Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Prottoy A. Akbar & Sijie Li & Allison Shertzer & Randall P. Walsh, 2019. "Racial Segregation in Housing Markets and the Erosion of Black Wealth," NBER Working Papers 25805, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Xu, Hangtian, 2017. "Spatial Reorganization in Urban Redevelopment: Evidence from an Earthquake in a Metropolitan Area," MPRA Paper 78986, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Yang, Xintong & Dong, Xin & Yi, Chengdong, 2022. "Informal housing clearance, housing market, and labor supply," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Jeffrey Lin, 2017. "Understanding Gentrification’s Causes," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 2(3), pages 9-17, July.
    18. Richard Hornbeck & Daniel Keniston, 2017. "Creative Destruction: Barriers to Urban Growth and the Great Boston Fire of 1872," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1365-1398, June.
    19. Leah Platt Boustan & Robert A. Margo, 2011. "White Suburbanization and African-American Home Ownership, 1940-1980," NBER Working Papers 16702, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Chareyron, Sylvain & Goffette-Nagot, Florence & Letrouit, Lucie, 2022. "Externalities from urban renewal: Evidence from a French program," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    21. Boustan, Leah P. & Margo, Robert A., 2013. "A silver lining to white flight? White suburbanization and African–American homeownership, 1940–1980," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 71-80.
    22. Qing Yang & Chaozheng Zhang, 2023. "How Does the Renewal of Urban Villages Affect the Resettled Villagers’ Subjective Well-Being? A Case Study in Wuhan, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-22, August.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • K0 - Law and Economics - - General
    • N12 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • R0 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General

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