Income Growth and the Distributional Effects of Urban Spatial Sorting

51 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2019 Last revised: 30 Sep 2020

See all articles by Victor Couture

Victor Couture

University of California, Berkeley

Cecile Gaubert

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics

Jessie Handbury

University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School

Erik Hurst

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 30, 2020

Abstract

We explore the impact of rising incomes at the top of the distribution on spatial sorting patterns within large U.S. cities. We develop and quantify a spatial model of a city with heterogeneous agents and non-homothetic preferences for neighborhoods with endogenous amenity quality. As the rich get richer, demand increases for the high quality amenities available in downtown neighborhoods. Rising demand drives up house prices and spurs the development of higher quality neighborhoods downtown. This gentrification of downtowns makes poor incumbents worse off, as they are either displaced to the suburbs or pay higher rents for amenities that they do not value as much. We quantify the corresponding impact on well-being inequality. Through the lens of the quantified model, the change in the income distribution between 1990 and 2014 led to neighborhood change and spatial resorting within urban areas that increased the welfare of richer households relative to that of poorer households, above and beyond rising nominal income inequality.

Suggested Citation

Couture, Victor and Gaubert, Cecile and Handbury, Jessie and Hurst, Erik, Income Growth and the Distributional Effects of Urban Spatial Sorting (January 30, 2020). University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics Working Paper No. 2019-98, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3435825 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3435825

Victor Couture

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

310 Barrows Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
United States

Cecile Gaubert

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

549 Evans Hall #3880
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
United States

Jessie Handbury

University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Erik Hurst (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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