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The housing quality, income, and human capital effects of subsidized homes in urban India

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  • Kumar, Tanu

Abstract

This paper measures the effects of a subsidized housing lottery in Mumbai, India wherein winners can choose to either live in or rent out the homes. After 3–5 years, winners experience better housing quality, greater reported income, and different attitudes when compared to non-winners. They also have higher education and employment rates, with effects concentrated among youth. This occurs even though winners live in neighborhoods with worse schools and lower employment rates than non-winners at the time of measurement. Overall, effects differ from those of other asset transfers and housing programs requiring relocation. Comparisons with existing studies indicate that the intervention shifts educational attainment and employment at least as much as conditional cash transfers that target these outcomes. The findings suggest that when in-kind transfers can be easily exchanged or sold, their benefits approach those of cash transfers.

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  • Kumar, Tanu, 2021. "The housing quality, income, and human capital effects of subsidized homes in urban India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:153:y:2021:i:c:s0304387821001061
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102738
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    Cited by:

    1. Adriana Camacho-González & Jorge Enrique Caputo-Leyva & Fabio Sánchez-Torres, 2022. "A new beginning: The effect of the free housing program on the quality of life of beneficiary households," Documentos CEDE 20303, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    2. Mary Di Santolo & Isabelle Guérin & Sébastien Michiels & Cécile Mouchel & Arnaud Natal & Christophe Jalil Nordman & Govindan Venkatasubramanian, 2024. "Ten Years in Tamil Nadu: Exploring Labour, Migration and Debt from Longitudinal Household Surveys in South India," Working Papers DT/2024/02, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    3. Li Shang & Xiaoling Zhang & Decai Tang & Xiaoxue Ma & Chunfeng Lu, 2023. "The Impact of Housing Support Expenditure on Urban Residents’ Consumption—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing; Asset transfers; India; Wealth; Education; Mumbai;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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