Urban Institute

About: Urban Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicaid & Population. The organization has 927 authors who have published 2330 publications receiving 86426 citations.

Greening U.S. Legacy Cities—Urban Agriculture as a Strategy for Reclaiming Vacant Land

Abstract: Repurposing vacant land for food production is expanding as a response to urban blight, food insecurity, and food deserts. As municipalities integrate urban agriculture in their sustainability plan...

Latino Neighborhoods and Latino Neighborhood Poverty

Abstract: To present a national socioeconomic portrayal of Latino neighborhoods, this study examines 1980 and 1990 census tracts that are at least 50 percent Latino. It investigates the determinants of poverty rates and transitions into and out of poverty concentration. A special focus in this analysis is the relationship between immigration and poverty.

The Affordable Care Act: Improving Incentives for Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment

Abstract: Research evidence of pre-reform job lock and empirical research demonstrating a significant increase in self-employment under health care reforms or availability of Medicare benefits, strongly suggests that self-employment will increase as a consequence of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Taking into account the most recent findings in the economic literature on this topic, we make a rough estimate that the number of self-employed people will be 1.5 million higher under the ACA than it would otherwise have been. Relative increases in self-employment will vary across states as a function of pre-ACA market reforms already in place.

Modeling Housing Appreciation Dynamics in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

Abstract: There is long-standing interest in predicting if and when less advantaged urban neighborhoods will experience upsurges in their housing prices, yet little research has investigated year-to-year neighborhood price dynamics. The authors advance knowledge in this realm by employing anually updated, readily available indicators created from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and assessor’s data from Washington, D.C., census tracts for 1995 to 2005 to estimate a hazard model of the year when consistent, substantial, and sustained housing price appreciation starts in disadvantaged neighborhoods, based on predictors measured one and two years in advance. The results suggest that proximity to stronger neighborhoods, a robust metropolitan housing market, and inflows of higher-status home buyers are key predictors of appreciation onset in disadvantaged neighborhoods, but replications and refinements are needed before firm generalizations about this process can be made.

The Impact of United States v. Booker and Gall/Kimbrough v. United States on Sentence Severity Assessing Social Context and Judicial Discretion

Abstract: In the wake of United States v Booker and Gall/Kimbrough v United States, sentencing researchers and legal scholars conducted research designed to identify their impact on the federal sentencing process, with a focus on determining whether the decisions increased unwarranted disparity In this article, we extend this body of research Using 10 years of data from the US Sentencing Commission and data from other sources, we assess whether and how these decisions influence sentence severity Results indicate that sentence severity declined following Booker and, especially, Gall/Kimbrough, but that the decisions’ effects on sentence severity varied significantly across US District Courts Most importantly, the impact of Gall/Kimbrough sentence severity was conditioned by districts’ percent Black population, level of socioeconomic disadvantage, and degree of political conservatism; each of these factors moderated the decisions’ effects on the harshness of the sentences imposed by the districts’ judges