5:00 am ET Nov 9, 2013  Number of the Week  Number of the Week:
The Benefits of Gentrification      • An 8 point on average
improvement on their credit scores--so what! Lets suppose that
all the residents prior to gentrification had poor credit scores
of 500. An 8 point point improvement would be a 1.6% increase.
Come on. What is the statistical error in this study? Would a
1.6% increase make any real-world difference at all? And what
about the total net costs such as higher property taxes for
those prior-to-gentrification residents who stayed? The costs to
those who moved of moving? I must say this seems to be a really
unconvincing study.      • Wait a minute has a good point. I
would also ask (from abroad - so ignorant of USA) how credit
scores are determined. If they are wholly or partly determined
by the socio-economic profile of the local population or their
average credit records then the whole argument may be circular:
as house prices rise credit scores will be adjusted upwards. And
what benefit do peo