Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India

Sharon Barnhardt (), Erica Field and Rohini Pande

No 21419, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: A housing lottery in an Indian city provided winning slum dwellers the opportunity to move into improved housing on the city’s periphery. Fourteen years later, relative to lottery losers, winners report improved housing farther from the city center, but no change in family income or human capital. Winners also report increased isolation from family and caste networks and lower access to informal insurance. We observe significant program exit: 34% of winners never moved into the subsidized housing and 32% eventually exited. Our results point to the importance of considering social networks when designing housing programs for the poor.

JEL-codes: C93 H42 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-net
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Published as Sharon Barnhardt & Erica Field & Rohini Pande, 2017. "Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, January.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India (2017)
Working Paper: Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India (2015)
Working Paper: Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India (2015)
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