Sick of Your Poor Neighborhood? Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Neighborhood Effects on Health

Arbeitspapier

Does living in a low-income neighborhood have negative health consequences? We document causal neighborhood effects on health by exploiting a Spatial Dispersal Policy that quasi-randomly resettled refugees across neighborhoods from 1986 to 1998. Refugees allocated to low-income neighborhoods had a 12 percent higher risk of having developed a lifestyle related disease 8 to 15 years after immigration compared with those allocated to high-income neighborhoods. Our results suggest that interaction with neighbors and the characteristics of the immediate environment are important determinants for health outcomes. Differences in health care access, ethnic networks, and individual labor market outcomes cannot explain our findings.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16949

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination ; Health Behavior ; Health and Inequality ; General Welfare; Well-Being
• Subject: health inequality ; Refugee Dispersal Policy ; lifestyle related diseases ; neighborhood effects

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hasager, Linea ; Jørgensen, Mia
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2024

Further information

• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET