Code and Public Data for "Targeting In-Kind Transfers through Market Design: A Revealed Preference Analysis of Public Housing Allocation"

Code and instructions to reproduce analysis in the article "Targeting In-Kind Transfers through Market Design: A Revealed Preference Analysis of Public Housing Allocation."<br><br>Abstract: "Public housing benefits are rationed through waitlists. Theoretical work on public housing allocation has debated how much choice applicants should have over units, identifying a possible trade-off between efficiency and redistribution. This paper empirically establishes the existence and economic importance of this trade-off using waitlist data from Cambridge, MA. I estimate a model of public housing preferences in a setting where heterogeneous apartments are rationed through waiting time. Eliminating choice would improve targeting but reduce tenant welfare by more than 30 percent. Such a change is only justified on targeting grounds by a strong social preference for redistribution."