title: Population trends as a counterweight to central city decline, 1950-2000.
abstract: The share of metropolitan residents living in central cities declined dramatically from 1950 to 2000. We argue that cities would have lost even further ground if not for demographic trends such as renewed immigration, delayed childbearing, and a decline in the share of households headed by veterans. We provide causal estimates of the effect of children on residential location using the birth of twins. The effect of veteran status is identified from a discontinuity in the probability of military service during and after the mass mobilization for World War II. Our results suggest that these changes in demographic composition were strong enough to bolster city population but not to fully counteract socioeconomic factors favoring suburban growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, UCLA, 8283 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. lboustan@econ.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Leah
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boustan
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shertzer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011157:Population Dynamics / Q000639:trends*; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population / Q000639:trends*; D014728:Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult