逃离城市衰败：铅中毒、犯罪与郊区化
Flight from Urban Blight: Lead Poisoning, Crime, and Suburbanization
Review of Economics and Statistics · 2023 · Federico Curci、Federico Masera
中文摘要
本文研究暴力犯罪对居民和企业区位选择决策的影响，及其对城市隔离的含义。为此，我们提出一种新的工具变量，用以外生预测市中心的暴力犯罪。该工具变量基于化学与医学证据，这些证据将当地土壤特征与铅中毒及攻击性行为联系起来。我们表明，1960年至1990年间因铅中毒导致的暴力犯罪上升，促使近800万人迁往郊区。企业也随之离开市中心。随后我们表明，这一郊区化进程具有“白人外迁”的特征。
Abstract
Abstract In this paper we study the effect of violent crime on residential and firms location decisions and their implications for segregation in cities. We do so by proposing a new instrument to exogenously predict violent crime in city centers. We base our instrument on chemical and medical evidence that links local characteristics of the soil to lead poisoning and aggression. We show that the increase in violent crime between 1960 and 1990 due to lead poisoning moved almost 8 million people to the suburbs. Firms followed by leaving the city centers. We then show that the suburbanization process was characterized by “white flight.”