Difference in differences

Spillover effect

Transit (satellite)

Control (management)

Mathematics education

Demography

Engineering

Philosophy

Transport engineering

Communication

Microeconomics

Cartography

Public transport

Economics

Computer science

Real estate

Economic geography

Residential property

Psychology

Mathematics

Management

Geography

Unit (ring theory)

Property value

Demographic economics

Epistemology

Econometrics

Sociology

Environmental science

Train

Programming language

Relocation

Finance

Light rail transit

Property (philosophy)

Affect (linguistics)

Demographics

Economic Modelling

How to evaluate the comprehensive costs and benefits of urban light trains is a critical issue. The difference-in-differences technique is widely used in the literature. However, the conventional approach assumes the project does not affect the control group, which might be violated in real life due to social and economic interactions. We refine the DID approach and relax the no-spillover assumption. Through an example of impacts of a new light rail transit on house prices in Edmonton, Canada, we illustrate how the approach can be used to calculate three different treatment effects. The results indicate that the train system has negative impacts on values of single-detached houses nearby the train stations, and the negative effects also spill over to properties outside the treatment zone. Our findings show that the direction and magnitude of project impacts depend on the city size, the design of the train system, and relevant neighborhood characteristics.

A spatial difference-in-differences approach to evaluate the impact of light rail transit on property values