IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v238y2024ics0047272724001105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The McMansion effect: Positional externalities in U.S. suburbs

Author

Listed:
  • Bellet, Clément S.

Abstract

This paper examines how the construction of very large homes — or “McMansions” — in U.S. suburbs affects homeowners’ satisfaction and housing behavior. Combining three decades of survey data with geolocated information on three million suburban houses, I find that homeowners exposed to newly constructed, large houses report lower satisfaction with their own homes, while their neighborhood satisfaction remains unaffected. This effect is contingent on the visual salience of McMansions, as indicated by their proximity to roads. Homeowners exposed to new-built McMansions are more likely to expand their own homes and take on more debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Bellet, Clément S., 2024. "The McMansion effect: Positional externalities in U.S. suburbs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:238:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001105
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001105
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105174?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Positional goods; Relative consumption; Subjective wellbeing; Housing; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • E70 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:238:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.