Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

9-2024

Abstract

This study presents new causal evidence on how urban heat contributes to sorting within a city. We estimate a discrete choice residential sorting model that includes census-tract fixed effects and controls for open space and green coverage to analyze how differences in urban heat at the census-tract level influence the location choices of New York City homeowners given their race, ethnicity, and income. Our results show clear patterns of residential sorting, with whites and high-income households outcompeting other racial/ethnic groups and low-income households for housing in cooler neighborhoods. Our counterfactual exercise, inspired by Cool Neighborhoods NYC, reveals that heat-mitigation policies can make poorer and minority households, on average, worse off. These findings are striking, considering that such programs often aim to enhance welfare in heat-exposed neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by low-income and minority households.

Keywords

Urban heat, Environmental justice, Sorting, Housing, Structural model

Discipline

Environmental Sciences | Physical and Environmental Geography | Urban Studies

Research Areas

Integrative Research Areas

Areas of Excellence

Sustainability

Publication

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

Volume

127

First Page

1

Last Page

22

ISSN

0095-0696

Identifier

10.1016/j.jeem.2024.103014

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors-CC-BY

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.103014

Download

Share

COinS