Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The Opportunity Zone program, created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, was designed to encourage investment in distressed communities across the U.S. We examine the early impacts (up to one-and-a-half years after enactment) of the Opportunity Zone program on residents of targeted areas. We leverage restricted-access microdata from the American Community Survey and employ a matching approach to estimate causal effects of Opportunity Zone designation. Our results point to little or no evidence of positive effects of the Opportunity Zone program on the employment, earnings, or poverty of zone residents.