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The Economic Effects of Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • William J. Collins

    (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University)

  • Katharine Shester

    (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University)

Abstract

The Housing Act of 1949 established a federally subsidized program that helped cities clear areas of existing buildings for redevelopment, rehabilitate deteriorating structures, complete comprehensive city plans, and enforce building codes. The program ended in 1974, but not before financing over 2,100 urban renewal projects and generating great controversy. We use an instrumental variable strategy to estimate the program�s effects on city-level outcomes. The estimates are generally positive and economically significant and are not driven by differential changes in cities� demographic composition. We caution that the results do not imply that the program was an equitable or optimal approach to dealing with central-city problems.

Suggested Citation

  • William J. Collins & Katharine Shester, 2010. "The Economic Effects of Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal in the United States," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 1013, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:van:wpaper:1013
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/VUECON/vu10-w13.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Robert A. Margo & Leah Platt Boustan, 2011. "White Suburbanization And African-American Home Ownership, 1940-1980," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2011-024, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    3. Xizan Jin & Tachia Chin & Junli Yu & Yanjiang Zhang & Yingshuang Shi, 2020. "How Government’s Policy Implementation Methods Influence Urban Villagers’ Acceptance of Urban Revitalization Programs: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    City growth; Redevelopment; Residential Segregation; Eminent Domain;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • R30 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - General
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law

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