Miren Lafourcade

co-écrit avec Manon Garrouste (Université Paris-Saclay)

 

Abstract: Place-based policies that allocate public resources to low-income neighborhoods inadvertently also designate areas needing assistance, which may, in turn, create or reinforce neighborhood stigma. This paper investigates this trade-off through the lens of school enrollment. We leverage the quasi-experimental design provided by a French reform that changed the delineation of subsidized neighborhoods based on a sharp poverty cut-off. Using a difference-in-differences approach,  we find strong evidence of neighborhood stigma arising from policy designation, as public middle schools located in designated areas witnessed a significant decrease in pupil enrollment post-reform compared to counterfactual schools in undesignated areas above the poverty threshold. This « zone-and-shame » effect is immediate; it persists up to five years after the reform, and it is triggered by the reactions of parents from all socioeconomic backgrounds. While upper and middle-class families have shifted to the public sector, less affluent families have opted for public middle schools outside the designated areas. We uncover weak evidence of stigma reversion after an area loses its designation, suggesting hysteresis in bad reputations conveyed by policy labeling.