Effect of New Rail Transit Stations on Income Distribution of Nearby Residential Moves

This project brief summarizes findings from a project aimed at addressing the question of "Is new rail transit associated with displacement of low-income residents in near-rail neighborhoods?" To address this question, the researchers used annual data on household locations and incomes from 1994 to 2012 to examine neighborhood income distributions and the pattern of residential moves by income in Los Angeles rail transit neighborhoods. The Los Angeles metropolitan area presents an ideal study area for analyzing transit-oriented development (TOD) and potential displacement. Since 1990, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) has opened 93 new rail-transit stations. An additional 17 are under construction.View the NCST Project Webpag

Residential Moves near Red Line and Purple Line Stations from 1993- 2013 in Los Angeles, CA

CCF BA-18-147082Intra-urban household mobility has been a feature of U.S. metropolitan areas for over a century. This mobility may positively or negatively affect households. Positive or \u2018upward\u2019 mobility may reflect a move for a better job, better housing, a better neighborhood, toward homeownership, or to attain more education.1 Negative mobility, often termed displacement, may occur if a household is evicted or unable to pay increased rent. Both positive and negative mobility are included in the baseline mobility in a metropolitan area. While negative mobility is the primary interest of this study, we first establish a mobility baseline for Los Angeles County and then measure differential mobility (which we will call displacement going forward) in rail station areas along the Red and Purple Line Subway

Gentrification Near Rail Transit Areas: A Micro-Data Analysis of Moves Into Los Angeles Metro Rail Station Areas

This report seeks to shed light on this latter concern. It begins with a brief summary of the evidence from prior studies on both rail-related housing price increases and changing composition. It then introduces a newly available data source, which we use to examine the relationship between new rail transit station opening and neighborhood income composition. This report aims to determine whether a rail station opening in Los Angeles County is associated with the share and income composition of residents who move in and out of neighborhoods near that rail station. Specifically, we address the following questions regarding gentrification and its tie to rail transit stations: \u2022 Who moves into rail-station neighborhoods and when? \u2022 Are higher income households growing as a share of station area population relative to lower-income households? \u2022 Do rail stations cause this phenomenon or is this happening regardless of the transit investment? The Los Angeles metropolitan area presents an ideal study area for analyzing transit-oriented development (TOD) and potential displacement. Prior to 1990, Los Angeles had not had any intra-urban rail transit service for decades. Since then, 93 new rail-transit stations (see Figure 1 for map) were opened by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (L.A. Metro) and an additional 17 are currently under construction (Boarnet et al., 2015). This buildout amounts to about half of the U.S. spending on new rail transit (L.A. Metro, 2009). Within L.A. Metro, 21% of its budget from 2005-2040 will go toward rail transit capital and operations expenditures (L.A. Metro, 2009). Concurrently, regional and local plans envision that over half of new housing and employment to occur within a half-mile of a well-serviced transit corridor, including rail (L.A. Metro, 2009; SCAG, 2012)

Independent Contracting, Self-Employment, and Gig Work: Evidence from California Tax Data

The authors use de-identified data from California personal income tax returns to measure the frequency and nature of independent contracting and self-employment in California. They identify this work by the presence of a Schedule C on the tax return and/or the receipt of a Form 1099 information return. The authors estimate that 14.4% of California workers aged 18 to 64 in tax year 2016 had some independent contracting or self-employment income and approximately half of this subgroup also had earnings from traditional W-2 jobs during the year. Only a small share (1.4%) of workers had earnings from online labor platforms (often called gig work). Workers with low earnings were significantly more likely to earn independent contracting or self-employment income and to rely primarily or exclusively on that income. The article explores the characteristics of workers engaging in independent contracting and self-employment and their distribution across family type, geography, and industry.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR327

Can Nudges Increase Take-up of the EITC?: Evidence from Multiple Field Experiments

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) distributes more than $60 billion to over 20 million low-income families annually. Nevertheless, an estimated one-fifth of eligible households do not claim it. We ran six pre-registered, large-scale field experiments to test whether “nudges” could increase EITC take-up (N=1million). Despite varying the content, design, messenger, and mode of our messages, we find no evidence that they affected households’ likelihood of filing a tax return or claiming the credit. We conclude that even the most behaviorally informed low-touch outreach efforts cannot overcome the barriers faced by low-income households who do not file returns.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774

Can Nudges Increase Take-up of the EITC?: Evidence from Multiple Field Experiments

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) distributes more than $60 billion to over 20 million low-income families annually. Nevertheless, an estimated one-fifth of eligible households do not claim it. We ran six pre-registered, large-scale field experiments to test whether “nudges” could increase EITC take-up (N=1million). Despite varying the content, design, messenger, and mode of our messages, we find no evidence that they affected households’ likelihood of filing a tax return or claiming the credit. We conclude that even the most behaviorally informed low-touch outreach efforts cannot overcome the barriers faced by low-income households who do not file returns.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774

Effect of New Rail Transit Stations on Income Distribution of Nearby Residential Moves

This project brief summarizes findings from a project aimed at addressing the question of "Is new rail transit associated with displacement of low-income residents in near-rail neighborhoods?" To address this question, the researchers used annual data on household locations and incomes from 1994 to 2012 to examine neighborhood income distributions and the pattern of residential moves by income in Los Angeles rail transit neighborhoods. The Los Angeles metropolitan area presents an ideal study area for analyzing transit-oriented development (TOD) and potential displacement. Since 1990, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) has opened 93 new rail-transit stations. An additional 17 are under construction.View the NCST Project Webpag

Gentrification Near Rail Transit Areas: A Micro-Data Analysis of Moves into Los Angeles Metro Rail Station Areas

Rail transit and neighborhood compositional changes are becoming clearly linked in the public mind. Examples where rail transit has been associated, at least anecdotally, with neighborhood gentrification abound. In Washington, D.C., the Green and Yellow lines are associated with neighborhood transition north and east of downtown. In Los Angeles, the Gold, Expo, and Red/Purple lines have been associated with gentrification concerns (Zuk & Chapple, 2015a), and similar concerns have been raised regarding the soon-to-open Crenshaw Line. On balance, these same concerns are present in most large metropolitan areas that are building or expanding rail transit.Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change characterized by increasing housing prices and changing demographic and socioeconomic composition of the neighborhood. These components of gentrification are often mutually reinforcing: changing composition can further increase housing prices and vice versa. Prior studies have raised the concern that rail transit expansion catalyzes or exacerbates gentrification (Zuk et al., 2017; Rayle, 2015).This report seeks to shed light on this latter concern. It begins with a brief summary of the evidence from prior studies on both rail-related housing price increases and changing composition. It then introduces a newly available data source, which the authors use to examine the relationship between new rail transit station opening and neighborhood income composition. This report aims to determine whether a rail station opening in Los Angeles County is associated with the share and income composition of residents who move in and out of neighborhoods near that rail station. Specifically, the researchers address the following questions regarding gentrification and its tie to rail transit stations: (1) Who moves into rail-station neighborhoods and when? (2) Are higher income households growing as a share of station area population relative to lower-income households? (3) Do rail stations cause this phenomenon or is this happening regardless of the transit investment?View the NCST Project Webpag