Unequal Access: Racial Segregation and the Distributional Impacts of Interstate Highways in Cities
Unequal Access: Racial Segregation and the Distributional Impacts of Interstate Highways in Cities
Authors: Laura Weiwu
Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of the largest infrastructure project in American history—the Interstate highway system—on inequality and the role of institutional segregation in its disparate incidence. To evaluate the distributional impacts, I develop a general equilibrium spatial framework that incorporates empirical estimates from disaggregated Census microdata in 1960 and 1970 for 25 cities. Highways generated substantial costs from local harms on adjacent areas as well as benefits from reductions in commute times. In the urban core, costs outweigh benefits as proximity to highways is greater and commute connectivity improves predominantly in remote suburbs. I find residential constraints account for much of the initial concentration of the Black population in central areas and their low mobility away, which contribute to racial rather than class gaps in impacts from the Interstate highway system. When barriers are eliminated and Black households are granted access beyond central neighborhoods, the gap in highway impacts is reduced while all groups experience large gains from interstate development. These results highlight how institutions shape inequality in the incidence of place-based shocks.
Seminar Notes
Venue
CES Brownbag/UC Davis Seminar 2024
Objective
To understand the welfare impacts of interstate highways, taking account commute benefits and local costs. How does segregation affect the disparities in the effects from highways?
Importance
Benefits of highways → commute benefits. Separate work from home - suburbanization
Costs → displacement, disruption of neighborhood, pollution
Background
The interstate highway system largest infrastructure project in US history Many examples of interstate highways being built through black neighborhoods. Construction occurred during peak racial segregation Funding 90% federal, 10% local
Data & Key Variables
Historical commute flows 1960 & 1970 Decennial Journey to work. Place and county of home & work. 25 cities. Wages, rents, modes of transport
Interstate highway system - dates for when segments were built HOLC redlining maps - proxy for exclusionary institutions
Methodology
Long differences from 1960 to 1970 - distance from highway, distance from central business distance
Instrument with highway plan maps - Yellow book, historical large roads “candidate routes”, geographical features - Euclidian Rays between cities
Quantitative GE spatial model - workers of race r and education g who choose where to live i and work j with costly commuting
Results
Large welfare gap in effects of highways by race. Black residents face welfare loss and white residents receive welfare benefit
White population responds to highway by moving away from CBD and towards commuting market access (CMA)
Black population closer to highway to begin with, and move away less
Institutional segregation shapes the residential locations and mobility responses. Without institutional constraints to mobility both Black and White families would benefit
Key Table/Figure
