← Search

The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 106 No. 1 2024

Gentrification and Pioneer Businesses

Kristian Behrens1; Brahim Boualam2; Julien Martin3; Florian Mayneris3

1 Université du Québec à Montréal, HSE University, and CEPR · 2 Statistics Canada · 3 Université du Québec à Montréal and CEPR

open access

Abstract

Little is known about where hotspots of gentrification emerge within a city and the role that some types of businesses play in the process. We develop a method to detect the sectors whose presence heralds the process of gentrification in a neighborhood. We show that these sectors, mostly found in cultural and creative industries, help to anticipate neighborhood change and that their predictive power complements that of traditional gentrification determinants. We also examine mechanisms related to amenities, worker characteristics, and signaling that are consistent with these results. The analysis illustrates the importance of businesses in the sociodemographic dynamics of neighborhoods.

DOI
10.1162/rest_a_01154
Volume
106
Issue
1
Pages
119-132
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite