Neighborhood Effects: Evidence from Wartime Destruction in London

Stephen Redding and Daniel Sturm
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Daniel Sturm: London School of Economics and CEPR

Working Papers from Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies.

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: London; England; Great Britain; United Kingdom, Agglomeration, Neighborhood effects, Second World War, Spatial Sorting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 N9 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
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https://gceps.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/wp322_ReddingSturm_NE.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Neighborhood effects: Evidence from wartime destruction in London (2024)
Working Paper: Neighborhood Effects: Evidence from Wartime Destruction in London (2024)
Working Paper: Neighborhood effects: evidence from wartime destruction in London (2024)
Working Paper: Neighborhood Effects: Evidence from Wartime Destruction in London (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:cepsud:322

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