Urban renewal after the Berlin Wall: a place-based policy evaluation

We use a quasi-experimental research design to study the effects of a spatially targeted renewal policy implemented in Berlin, Germany, in the aftermath of the city’s division during the Cold War period. Our results suggest that over the course of 20 years the policy helped to reduce (increase) the propensity of build-ings being in poor (good) condition within the targeted areas by, on average, 1.2–3% (0.6–2.5%) per year. The estimated effects on property prices range from 0.1–2% per year. In each case, the lower-bound estimate is not statistically significant. We find little evidence of positive housing externalities or positive welfare ef-fects.