Neighbourhoods and the delivery of public services

Director: Deborah Wilson

Funding body: ESRC

There are complex interlinkages between individual residential decisions and public services provision; between the demand for and supply of public services in a locality. Education provides a prime example of this. Evidence suggests that parents will pay large premia for houses in the catchment areas of good schools. This in turn creates a feedback which impacts on children through the formation of peer groups, both within their schools and their neighbourhood. Government policies such as school choice which may affect residential decisions, therefore, have an impact on sorting across schools and neighbourhoods as well as on educational outcomes. This theme will build on and extend CMPO’s previous work in this area to investigate aspects of the three key elements of these complex inter-relationships in the context of education:

We will also pursue International comparisons research in this area