Neighborhood Effects: Evidence from Wartime Destruction in London / Stephen J. Redding, Daniel M. Sturm.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Redding, Stephen J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Sturm, Daniel M.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w32333.

NBER working paper series no. w32333

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2024.

Summary:

We use the German bombing of London during the Second World War as an exogenous source of variation to provide evidence on neighborhood effects. We construct a newly-digitized dataset at the level of individual buildings on wartime destruction, property values, and socioeconomic composition in London before and after the Second World War. We develop a quantitative spatial model, in which heterogeneous groups of individuals endogenously sort across locations in response to differences in natural advantages, wartime destruction and neighborhood effects. We find substantial and highly localized neighborhood effects, which magnify the direct impact of wartime destruction, and make a substantial contribution to observed patterns of spatial sorting across locations.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2024.