The local labour market effects of light rail transit

Justin Tyndall

Journal of Urban Economics, 2021, vol. 124, issue C

Abstract: Many US cities have made large investments in light rail transit in order to improve commuting networks. I analyse the labour market effects of light rail in four US metros. I propose a new instrumental variable to overcome endogeneity in transit station location, enabling causal identification of neighbourhood effects. Light rail stations are found to drastically improve employment outcomes in the surrounding neighbourhood. To incorporate endogenous sorting by workers, I estimate a structural neighbourhood choice model. Light rail systems tend to raise rents in accessible locations, displacing lower skilled workers to isolated neighbourhoods, which reduces aggregate metropolitan employment in equilibrium.

Keywords: Transportation; Transit; Residential choice; Neighbourhood change; Spatial mismatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J20 J60 R13 R23 R40 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juecon:v:124:y:2021:i:c:s0094119021000322

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2021.103350

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