Social Econ Blog

It is not a perfect experiment, but Katrina may provide an opportunity to examine the effects of moving to a "better" neighborhood on individual outcomes. The NYTimes reports today that many Katrina evacuees have ended up residing in neighborhoods with higher incomes then those the left behind. Obviously, Katrina represents a really big shock which may have direct effects in its own right (meaning that "treatment" isn't just "random" assignment to a higher income neighborhood -- it is surviving a hurricane, etc. and ending up in a higher income neighborhood). Regardless, I would expect to see some interesting papers over the next several years that exploit shocks from major natural disasters like the tsunami and Katrina.