School Quality and Property Values: Re-examining the Boundary Approach

No 2009-37, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines the hypothesis that the strong reduction in the effect of school quality on housing prices from the inclusion of boundary fixed affects can be attributed to uncertainty associated with school assignment near attendance zone boundaries, rather than unobserved neighborhood attributes. We examine this hypothesis using repeated cross-sections of housing transactions near school district boundaries in Connecticut since these boundaries are primarily town boundaries and for the most part have not changed in many decades. However, once we control for the across boundary neighborhood quality differences that are likely to arise over time with permanent boundaries, we find fairly small effects of test scores on property values; findings that are very similar to the findings of traditional studies based on attendance zone boundaries.

Keywords: School District Performance; Housing Price; District Boundaries; Boundary Uncertainty; Test Scores; Omitted Neighborhood Attributes. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 R2 R5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2009-11, Revised 2010-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2009-37

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