文档介绍：THE VALUE OF SCHOOL FACILITY INVESTMENTS:
EVIDENCE FROM A DYNAMIC REGRESSION
DISCONTINUITY DESIGN∗
STEPHANIE RIEGG CELLINI
FERNANDO FERREIRA
JESSE ROTHSTEIN
Despite extensive public infrastructure spending, surprisingly little is known
about its economic return. In this paper, we estimate the value of school facility
investments using housing markets: standard models of local public goods imply
that school districts should spend up to the point where marginal increases would
have zero effect on local housing prices. Our research design isolates exogenous
variation in investments paring school districts where referenda on bond
issues targeted to fund capital expenditures passed and failed by narrow mar-
gins. We extend this traditional regression discontinuity approach to identify the
dynamic treatment effects of bond authorization on local housing prices, student
achievement, and position. Our results indicate that California school
districts underinvest in school facilities: passing a referendum causes immedi-
ate, sizable increases in home prices, implying a willingness to pay on the part
of marginal homebuyers of $ or more for each $1 of capital spending. These
effects do not appear to be driven by changes in the e or position of
homeowners, and the impact on test scores appears to explain only a small portion
of the total housing price effect.
I. INTRODUCTION
Federal, state, and local governments invest more than $420
billion in infrastructure projects every year, and the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is funding substantial
temporary increases in capital School facilities may be
among the most important public infrastructure investments: $50
billion is spent on public school construction and repairs each year
∗We thank Currie, Joseph Gyourko, Larry Katz, David Lee, Chris Mayer,
Tom Romer, Cecilia Rouse, Tony Yezer, and anonymous referees, as well as seminar
participants at Brown; Chicago GS