Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The U.S.-Mexico Border And Housing Prices: Understanding The Impact Of Border Fencing On Property Values, Mary Jane Macarthur

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Building a barrier on the US-Mexico border has been a hot-button issue for a couple of decades. Not only do people disagree on the effectiveness of walls and fences, but there has also been debate on whether they generate positive or negative externalities on localities. Using data on construction of the US-Mexico border fence, as well as housing data for Yuma County, Arizona, I attempt to identify the treatment effect of fence construction on nearby housing prices, which may serve as an indicator of some of the external impacts of walls and fences. Mine is the first study to quantify …