Neighborhoods and Industrial Restructuring

Abstract

This research note presents the results of a preliminary study in which census tract data have been used to (1) identify the nature of structural relationships existing between changes in the social, physical, and economic attributes of the neighborhoods of Wilmington, Delaware, and (2) determine how the effects of industrial restructuring have been transmitted through these structural relationships down to the neighborhood level. The calibrated structural model depicting these relationships is shown to be useful in determining the magnitude of the impact of a given type of industrial change on different attributes of a neighborhood. Examples considered include how a change in where a neighborhood's residents work affects the rate of appreciation of the neighborhood's housing values, how a change in the types of jobs held by a neighborhood's residents affects its physical environment, and how a shift in which industries employ a neighborhood's residents affects the stability of its families.