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Homeownership and Entrepreneurship: The Role of Mortgage Debt and Commitment

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  • Philippe Bracke
  • Christian Hilber
  • Olmo Silva

Abstract

We study the link between homeownership, mortgage debt, and entrepreneurship using a model of occupational choice and housing tenure where homeowners commit to mortgage payments. Our model predicts that, as long as mortgage rates exceed the rate of interest on liquid wealth: (i) mortgage debt, by amplifying risk aversion, diminishes the likelihood that homeowners start a business; and (ii) the negative relation between mortgage debt and entrepreneurship is more pronounced when income volatility is higher. Our model further predicts that the relation between housing wealth and entrepreneurship is ambiguously signed because of competing portfolio and hedging considerations. Exploiting the longitudinal dimension of the British Household Panel Survey to control for unobservables, we test and confirm these predictions. A one standard deviation increase in leverage makes a homeowner 10-12 percent less likely to become an entrepreneur.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Bracke & Christian Hilber & Olmo Silva, 2014. "Homeownership and Entrepreneurship: The Role of Mortgage Debt and Commitment," CESifo Working Paper Series 5048, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5048
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    Cited by:

    1. Tami Gurley-Calvez & Josephine Lugovskyy, 2019. "The role of entrepreneurial risk in financial portfolio allocation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 839-858, December.
    2. Gaetano Lisi, 2017. "Homeownership and entrepreneurship," Working Papers. Serie AD 2017-01, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    3. Christian A. L Hilber & Jan Rouwendal & Wouter Vermeulen, 2021. "Local economic conditions and the nature of new housing supply," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 339-366.
    4. Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Kerr, William R. & Nanda, Ramana, 2022. "House prices, home equity and entrepreneurship: Evidence from U.S. census micro data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 103-119.
    5. Jensen, Thais Laerkholm & Leth-Petersen, Søren & Nanda, Ramana, 2022. "Financing constraints, home equity and selection into entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 318-337.
    6. Hilber, Christian A. L. & Schöni, Olivier, 2016. "Housing policies in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States: lessons learned," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 72818, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Jansson, Thomas, 2017. "Housing choices and labor income risk," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 107-119.
    8. Gaetano Lisi, 2018. "NIMBY effect, mortgage payments and firm size: the different impact of homeownership on new businesses," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(2), pages 908-915.
    9. Jie Chen & Mingzhi Hu, 2019. "What types of homeowners are more likely to be entrepreneurs? The evidence from China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 633-649, March.
    10. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & Ramana Nanda, 2015. "House Money and Entrepreneurship," Harvard Business School Working Papers 15-069, Harvard Business School.
    11. Gaetano Lisi, 2019. "Homeownership and entrepreneurship: a search-and-matching model and a panel analysis in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 673-694, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; homeownership; mortgage debt; leverage; commitment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

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