The relationship between neighborhood physical environment and social disorder, particularly crime, is of critical interest to urban economists and sociologists, as well as local governments. Over the past 50 years, various policy interventions to improve physical conditions in distressed...

The past decade has been marked by a massive housing bubble and foreclosure crisis. During the first half of the decade, home prices nationally experienced unprecedented growth, increasing 85 percent in real terms between 1997 and 2005 (Shiller, 2008). The increase was notable for its sheer...