Impacts of Housing Interventions on Neighborhoods in Durham County
by Cassandra Turk
AbstractÂ
Housing intervention models intended to revitalize neighborhoods and empower homeowners are frequently observed in cities across the United States. To determine the efficacy of these programs, this study analyzes the effects of a housing intervention on the price of the home and the changes in neighborhood characteristics that may lead to neighborhood stability or instability in the long run, including the home prices, the racial makeup, the median income, and crime rates of the neighborhood. To study these characteristics and how they interact with interventions, I implement a propensity score matching model to reduce variation in unobservable characteristics and to isolate the effect of interventions on the block group characteristics of interest. In addition, I implement a non-parametric kernel regression to allow for the possibility of a non-linear relationship between home prices and home interventions. The results show significant evidence that interventions increase neighborhood home values at the bottom 10th percentile and at the median of each block group, suggesting that housing interventions do serve to increase the quality of the neighborhood. However, there is evidence that these effects taper off after a certain percent of the households in the neighborhood have been intervened upon, reducing the marginal benefit of completing a new housing intervention.
Professor Christopher Timmins, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: R2, R23, J10
How Do Different Parental Beliefs and Parenting behaviors Affect Students’ College Academic Performance?
By Zifan Lin
I examine the differences between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans with respect to parental beliefs, parenting behaviors, and college academic achievement. The results suggest that 1) there is a strong causal effect of study time on college performance, 2) parental strictness and emphasis on education distinguish Asian American students from Caucasian American students in their choice of a major, study effort, and self-motivation, all of which determine college GPA, and 3) an expanded list of parental control measures and self-motivation measures should be introduced in future research to effectively explain the ethnicity effect on study effort and college academic outcomes.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacono, Marjorie McElroy | JEL Codes: I2, J10, J15, J22 | Tagged: Academic Achievement, Asian, Education Economics, Instrumental Variables Regressions, Study Time
