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Owning versus Renting: Do Courts Matter?

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  • Pablo Casas-Arce
  • Albert Saiz

Abstract

We develop a legal contract enforcement theory of the decision to own or lease. The allocation of ownership rights will minimize enforcement costs when the legal system is inefficient. In particular, when legal enforcement of contracts is costly, there will be a shift from arrangements that rely on such enforcement (such as a rental agreement) toward other forms that do not (such as direct ownership). We then test this prediction and show that costly enforcement of rental contracts hampers the development of the rental housing market in a cross section of countries. We argue that this association is not the result of reverse causation from a developed rental market to more investor protective enforcement and is not driven by alternative institutional channels. The results provide supportive evidence for the importance of legal contract enforcement for market development and the optimal allocation of property rights. (c) 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

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  • Pablo Casas-Arce & Albert Saiz, 2010. "Owning versus Renting: Do Courts Matter?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 137-165, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:v:53:y:2010:i:1:p:137-165
    DOI: 10.1086/649962
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    Cited by:

    1. Eva Ortega & Margarita Rubio & Carlos Thomas, 2011. "House purchase versus rental in Spain," Working Papers 1108, Banco de España.
    2. Antoine Bonleu & Bruno Decreuse & Tanguy van Ypersele, 2019. "Job protection, housing market regulation, and the youth," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(6), pages 1017-1036, December.
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4dp533k0lq8dgrbgue1eid6mk1 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Beccuti, Juan & Möller, Marc, 2021. "Screening by mode of trade," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 400-420.
    5. Jonathan Halket & Lars Nesheim & Florian Oswald, 2015. "The housing stock, housing prices, and user costs," Working Papers hal-03393224, HAL.
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4dp533k0lq8dgrbgue1eid6mk1 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jonathan Halket & Lars Nesheim & Florian Oswald, 2020. "The Housing Stock, Housing Prices, And User Costs: The Roles Of Location, Structure, And Unobserved Quality," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1777-1814, November.
    8. Masuch, Klaus & Anderton, Robert & Setzer, Ralph & Benalal, Nicholai, 2018. "Structural policies in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 210, European Central Bank.
    9. Lars Nesheim & Florian Oswald & Jonathan Halket, 2015. "A Selection Model of Hedonic House Values and Rents," 2015 Meeting Papers 961, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Benito Arruñada, 2022. "Comentario a las nuevas regulaciones del alquiler," Fedea Economy Notes 2022-12, FEDEA.
    11. Ewelina Mruk & Inmaculada Aguiar-Díaz & Maria Victoria Ruiz-Mallorquí, 2019. "Use of formal insolvency procedure and judicial efficiency in Spain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 435-470, June.
    12. Collins, J. Michael & Urban, Carly, 2018. "The effects of a foreclosure moratorium on loan repayment behaviors," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 73-83.
    13. Guilherme Lichand & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2014. "Access to Justice and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Brazil's Special Civil Tribunals," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 459-499.
    14. Rubio Margarita, 2019. "Rented vs. owner-occupied housing and monetary policy," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, January.
    15. Jonathan Halket & Lars Nesheim & Florian Oswald, 2015. "The housing stock, housing prices, and user costs," Working Papers hal-03393224, HAL.
    16. Saiz, Albert, 2023. "The Global Housing Affordability Crisis: Policy Options and Strategies," IZA Policy Papers 203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Juan Mora-Sanguinetti, 2012. "Is judicial inefficacy increasing the weight of the house property market in Spain? Evidence at the local level," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 339-365, September.
    18. Dirección General de Economía y Estadística, 2020. "El mercado de la vivienda en España entre 2014 y 2019," Occasional Papers 2013, Banco de España.
    19. Na Zhang, 2018. "Leasing, legal environments, and growth: evidence from 76 countries," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(4), pages 746-764, October.
    20. Deffains Bruno & Roussey Ludivine, 2011. "The Multiplier Effect of Public Expenditure on Justice: The Case of Rental Litigation," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 243-263, August.
    21. Margarta Rubio, 2014. "Rented vs. Owner-Occupied Housing and Monetary Policy," Discussion Papers 2014/09, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).

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