Demography and Population Loss from Central Cities, 1950-2000

Leah Boustan and Allison Shertzer

No 16435, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The share of metropolitan residents living in central cities declined dramatically from 1950 to 2000. We argue that cities would have lost even further ground if not for demographic trends such as renewed immigration, delayed child bearing, and a decline in the share of households headed by veterans. We provide causal estimates of the effect of children on residential location using the birth of twins. The effect of veteran status is identified from a discontinuity in the probability of military service during and after the mass mobilization for World War II. Our results suggest that these changes in demographic composition were strong enough to bolster city population but not to fully counteract socio-economic factors favoring suburban growth.

JEL-codes: J11 N92 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-10
Note: DAE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as “Population Trends as a Counterweight to Central City Decline,” with Allison Shertzer. Demography 50.1 (2013): 125–47.

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