Neighborhoods, Housing, and Urban Policy

Catalog description

This course considers the dynamics of housing markets and neighborhoods in American metropolitan areas and the public policies designed to regulate them. In the first part of the course we examine the demographic and economic forces at work in metropolitan neighborhoods, focusing on trends in inequality and segregation and how they have been influenced by macroeconomic trends and public policies. In the second part of the course, we examine federal and local housing policies related to subsidized housing, homeownership, and land regulation and we analyze the empirical and normative debates surrounding their effectiveness. Students will also gain experience locating and analyzing data about neighborhoods and housing policies.