The Effects of the 1930s HOLC “Redlining” Maps Daniel Aaronson, Daniel Hartley, and Bhashkar Mazumder REVISED August 2020 WP 2017-12 *Working papers are not edited, and all opinions and errors are the responsibility of the author(s). The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago or the Federal Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Reserve Federal Reserve System. The Effects of the 1930s HOLC “Redlining” Maps Daniel Aaronson Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
[email protected] Daniel Hartley Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
[email protected] Bhashkar Mazumder Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
[email protected] August 2020 Abstract: We study the effects of the 1930s-era HOLC “redlining” maps on the long-run trajectories of neighborhoods. Using a boundary design and propensity score methods, we find that the maps led to reduced home ownership rates, house values, and rents and increased racial segregation in later decades. We also compare cities on either side of a population cutoff that determined whether maps were drawn and find broadly similar results. We conclude that the HOLC maps had meaningful and lasting effects on the development of urban neighborhoods through reduced credit access and subsequent disinvestment. The authors thank participants at the spring 2016 Federal Reserve System Meeting on Applied Microeconomics, fall 2016 Federal Reserve System Meeting on Regional Economics, DePaul University, UIC, Marquette University, Vanderbilt University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Bergen, University of North Carolina, the Cleveland Fed, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Atlanta Fed, the Minneapolis Fed, the Philadelphia Fed, the NBER DAE meetings, University of Chicago Law School, University of Edinburgh, University of Essex, the University of Sussex, UCL, Cambridge, and the Policy History Meetings.