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Homeownership and happiness: evidence from Canad

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  • Ehsan Latif

    (Thompson Rivers University)

Abstract

This study used panel data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey to examine the impact of homeownership on individual happiness. The study utilized a number of estimation methods, namely Ordered Probit, Ordinary Least Squares and panel data Fixed Effects. The Ordered Probit and the Ordinary Least Squares methods do not control for unobserved individual specific heterogeneities that may impact happiness. On the other hand, the panel data allowed this study to use a fixed effects method that controls for unobserved individual specific fixed effects. The results of the fixed effects method for the overall sample suggest that owning a home has no significant impact on happiness. However, the sub-sample analysis based on income levels suggests that owning a home negatively impacts happiness of individuals in the lowest income category.

Suggested Citation

  • Ehsan Latif, 2021. "Homeownership and happiness: evidence from Canad," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(1), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-19-00727
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian Will & Timon Renz, 2021. "In Debt but Still Happy? Examining the Relationship between Homeownership and Life Satisfaction," ERES eres2021_89, European Real Estate Society (ERES).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Homeownership; Happiness; Panel Data; Canada;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

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