Date of Award

8-23-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Economics

Advisor(s)

Alexander Rothenberg

Subject Categories

Economics | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

This dissertation explores the location choices of same-sex couples and the economic impacts of their location choices. The research is structured into three chapters. The first chapter examines the intracity location decisions of same-sex couples. It shows that social acceptance of same-sex couples affects their location decisions, particularly for those with college degrees, leading to higher educational sorting of same-sex couples across cities. I derive the mean utility of each city from a conditional logit model of location choice, separately for same-sex couples with and without college degrees and different-sex couples with and without college degrees. I then run a regression of the mean utility on acceptance for each group to examine the effect of acceptance on location choices. To address the endogeneity arising from the simultaneity between acceptance and the location choice of same-sex couples, I use a novel instrument based on the historical number of churches. The findings reveal that acceptance has a substantial impact on the location choices of college-educated same-sex couples. Counterfactual analysis suggests significant implications for productivity in an area and the welfare of same-sex couples. The second chapter is motivated by the stylized fact that same-sex couples disproportionately live in central cities of metropolitan areas. I propose two mechanisms that attract same-sex couples into central cities: smaller income elasticity of housing demand and different preferences for downtown/suburban amenities, including consumption amenities, child-related amenities, and acceptance of same-sex couples. Analysis based on American Community Survey data provides evidence supporting these mechanisms. The third chapter builds on the second by investigating the effect of the presence of same-sex couples in central cities on downtown economic outcomes. The presence of same-sex couples has often been reported as an indicator of imminent gentrification. Using a shift-share instrument, the analysis shows that downtown metropolitan areas with a higher initial share of same-sex couples experienced a larger increase in median income and housing prices downtown between 2010 and 2017.

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Open Access

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