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JUE Insight: The Impacts of Opportunity Zones on Zone Residents

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  • Matthew Freedman
  • Shantanu Khanna
  • David Neumark

Abstract

The Opportunity Zone program, created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, was designed to encourage investment in distressed communities across the U.S. We examine the early impacts (up to one-and-a-half years after enactment) of the Opportunity Zone program on residents of targeted areas. We leverage restricted-access microdata from the American Community Survey and employ a matching approach to estimate causal reduced-form effects of the program. Our results point to little or no evidence of positive effects of the Opportunity Zone program on the employment, earnings, or poverty of zone residents.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Freedman & Shantanu Khanna & David Neumark, 2021. "JUE Insight: The Impacts of Opportunity Zones on Zone Residents," NBER Working Papers 28573, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28573
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    Cited by:

    1. Lambert, Thomas, 2024. "Louisville’s Economic Opportunity Zones: A Rerun of the Old Louisville Enterprise Zone Program?," MPRA Paper 121223, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Motyakina, Yana, 2023. "Территории Опережающего Развития И Занятость В Моногородах Российской Федерации [Priority development areas and employment in Russian cities]," MPRA Paper 117635, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Manon Garrouste & Miren Lafourcade, 2022. "Place-Based Policies: Opportunity for Deprived Schools or Zone-and-Shame Effect?," Post-Print hal-04329793, HAL.
    4. Luke Heath Milsom, 2023. "Moving OpportunityLocal Connectivity and Spatial Inequality," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2303, CEPREMAP.
    5. Jiafeng Chen & Edward Glaeser & David Wessel, 2022. "JUE Insight: The (Non-)Effect of Opportunity Zones on Housing Prices," Papers 2204.06967, arXiv.org.
    6. Atkins, Rachel M.B. & Hernández-Lagos, Pablo & Jara-Figueroa, Cristian & Seamans, Robert, 2023. "JUE Insight: What is the impact of opportunity zones on job postings?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    7. Anne Beck & Sebastian Doerr, 2023. "The financial origins of regional inequality," BIS Working Papers 1151, Bank for International Settlements.
    8. Chen, Jiafeng & Glaeser, Edward & Wessel, David, 2023. "JUE Insight: The (non-)effect of opportunity zones on housing prices," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    9. Tim Bartik, 2023. "Seize the Time: Needed Research on Local Economic Development in an Era of Increased Attention to Problems of Place," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 37(1), pages 7-13, February.
    10. Brett Theodos & Christina Stacy & Daniel Teles & Chris Davis & Ananya Hariharan, 2022. "Place‐based investment and neighborhood change: The impacts of New Markets Tax Credits on jobs, poverty, and neighborhood composition," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1092-1121, September.
    11. Ning Jia & Raven Molloy & Christopher Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2023. "The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 144-180, March.
    12. Rupasingha, Anil & Davis, James C., 2024. "Early Impacts of Opportunity Zones on Minority and Rural Employment," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343540, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Pang, Jindong & Shen, Shulin & Zhou, Ningzhe, 2024. "The Spillover effect of government relocations on economic growth in Chinese cities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 104-122.
    14. Cameron LAPOINT & SAKABE Shogo, 2021. "Place-Based Policies and the Geography of Corporate Investment," Discussion papers 21059, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    15. Corinth, Kevin & Feldman, Naomi E., 2022. "The Impact of Opportunity Zones on Commercial Investment and Economic Activity," IZA Discussion Papers 15247, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Tianca Crocker & Clysha Whitlow & Haley Cooper & Claire Patrick & Avangelyne Padilla & Mia Jammal & Rebecca Ince, 2022. "An Exploratory Study of Digital Inequities and Work in the Redevelopment of a Southeastern American City," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-22, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy

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