5:00 am ET
Nov 9, 2013

Number of the Week

Number of the Week: The Benefits of Gentrification

    • An 8 point on average improvement on their credit scores--so what! Lets suppose that all the residents prior to gentrification had poor credit scores of 500. An 8 point point improvement would be a 1.6% increase. Come on. What is the statistical error in this study? Would a 1.6% increase make any real-world difference at all? And what about the total net costs such as higher property taxes for those prior-to-gentrification residents who stayed? The costs to those who moved of moving? I must say this seems to be a really unconvincing study.

    • Wait a minute has a good point. I would also ask (from abroad - so ignorant of USA) how credit scores are determined. If they are wholly or partly determined by the socio-economic profile of the local population or their average credit records then the whole argument may be circular: as house prices rise credit scores will be adjusted upwards. And what benefit do people get from their credit score changing? None unless they are out borrowing. Or is it meant to be a proxy (for ¿what)?

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