Long-Term Neighborhood Effects on Low-Income Families: Evidence from Moving to Opportunity

We examine long-term neighborhood effects on low-income families using data from the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) randomized housing-mobility experiment. This experiment offered to some public-housing families but not to others the chance to move to less-disadvantaged neighborhoods. We show that ten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American economic review 2013-05, Vol.103 (3), p.226-231
Main Authors: Ludwig, Jens, Duncan, Greg J., Gennetian, Lisa A., Katz, Lawrence F., Kessler, Ronald C., Kling, Jeffrey R., Sanbonmatsu, Lisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Affordable housing
Census tracts
Children & youth
Childrens health
Control groups
Economic aspects
Education
Families & family life
Family
Family income
Health care policy
Health outcomes
Homes and haunts
Housing
Influence
Low income
Low income groups
Mental health
Mental health outcomes
Neighborhood
Neighborhood conditions
NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS AND PLACE BASED POLICIES
Neighborhoods
Neighbourhoods
Physical health
Poor
Poverty
Poverty rates
Public housing
Quality of life
Residential mobility
Social aspects
Social research
Studies
Urban development
Vouchers
Well-being
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Summary:We examine long-term neighborhood effects on low-income families using data from the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) randomized housing-mobility experiment. This experiment offered to some public-housing families but not to others the chance to move to less-disadvantaged neighborhoods. We show that ten to 15 years after baseline, MTO: (i) improves adult physical and mental health; (ii) has no detectable effect on economic outcomes or youth schooling or physical health; and (iii) has mixed results by gender on other youth outcomes, with girls doing better on some measures and boys doing worse. Despite the somewhat mixed pattern of impacts on traditional behavioral outcomes, MTO moves substantially improve adult subjective well-being. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0002-8282
1944-7981
DOI:10.1257/aer.103.3.226