Planning ahead for better neighborhoods: long-run evidence from Tanzania

Michaels, Guy ORCID: 0000-0002-8796-4536, Nigmatulina, Dzhamilya, Rauch, Ferdinand, Regan, Tanner, Baruah, Neeraj and Dahlstrand Rudin, Amanda (2021) Planning ahead for better neighborhoods: long-run evidence from Tanzania. Journal of Political Economy, 129 (7). 2112 – 2156. ISSN 0022-3808

Text (Planning Ahead for Better Neighborhoods: Long Run Evidence from Tanzania) - Accepted Version Download (5MB)

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Abstract

Africa’s demand for urban housing is soaring, even as it faces a proliferation of slums. In this setting, can modest infrastructure investments in greenfield areas where people subsequently build their own houses facilitate long-run neighborhood development? We study Sites and Services projects implemented in seven Tanzanian cities during the 1970s and 1980s, and we use a spatial regression discontinuity design to compare greenfield areas that were treated (de novo) with nearby greenfield areas that were not. We find that by the 2010s, de novo areas developed into neighborhoods with larger, more regularly laid-out buildings and better-quality housing.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jpe/current
Additional Information:	© 2021 The University of Chicago
Divisions:	Economics School of Public Policy ?? SCPP ?? Geography & Environment
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2020 00:36
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2024 02:09
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/107479

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