Previous research has considered how gentrification may alter the racial composition, income composition and income segregation within a neighbourhood. An increase in income segregation at the neighbourhood level may be evidenced by a reduction in income inequality, which may harm low‐income households. We examine how the influence of gentrification, with respect to changes in income inequality at the neighbourhood level over time, may spill over into surrounding neighbourhoods as lower‐income households' location choices change. We use data from the 30 largest Core Based Statistical Areas in the US from 2000–2010 and find that areas bordering newly gentrified neighbourhoods experience an increase in income inequality (potentially benefiting low‐income households). This effect appears to be concentrated in relatively smaller CBSAs, where lower‐income households may have less mobility, and in surrounding neighbourhoods that are themselves relatively lower‐income.

Gentrification is an oft-sought solution to urban blight, and it has been proposed, for various reasons, that the presence of gays and lesbians is associated with an increased probability that an area will gentrify. Using census tract-level data from the 30 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in the United States, we find that areas with more same-sex coupled households do, indeed, have a higher predicted probability of gentrifying from 2000 to 2010. A 1 percentage point increase in the number of same-sex coupled households is associated with an almost 2% to 3% increase in the probability of gentrification. We define gentrification as a change in the relative standing of a census tract with respect to average income and/or housing prices, and this finding is robust to various definitions of gentrification within these categories. This influence is persistent after controlling for family size, household income, the presence of different-sex, unmarried couples, and access to amenities.

Evidence of spatial dependence in land use regulatory levels was first found in Brueckner (1998) for California cities. Recent research has not incorporated this consideration despite the considerable consequences of the relationship. We seek to expand the empirical findings to a current, larger and more diverse data set for municipalities across the United States. Analyzing regulatory levels and their determinants from over 2,000 municipalities and 300 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, we find strong evidence of spatial dependence at the local level and aggregated metropolitan level. This suggests that political competition, rather than welfare maximization exclusively, may be influencing the level of regulations adopted.JEL Classification: H23, H73, R28, R38

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