IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7640.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does High Home-Ownership Impair the Labor Market?

Author

Listed:
  • Blanchflower, David G.

    (Dartmouth College)

  • Oswald, Andrew J.

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

This study explores the hypothesis that high home-ownership damages the labor market. We show that rises in the home-ownership rate in a U.S. state are a precursor to eventual sharp rises in unemployment in that state. The elasticity exceeds unity: a doubling of the rate of home-ownership in a U.S. state is followed in the long-run by more than a doubling of the later unemployment rate. What mechanisms might explain this? We provide evidence that rises in home-ownership are associated with three potential concerns: (i) lower levels of labor mobility, (ii) greater commuting times, and (iii) fewer new businesses. Our argument is not that owners are disproportionately unemployed, nor that the observed patterns are due to Keynesian effects. The evidence implies, instead, that the housing market may produce negative 'externalities' upon the labor market. The time lags are long. That gradualness may explain why these patterns remain little-known.

Suggested Citation

  • Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2013. "Does High Home-Ownership Impair the Labor Market?," IZA Discussion Papers 7640, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7640
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp7640.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "The Wage Curve," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, April.
    2. Jakob Roland Munch & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2006. "Are Homeowners Really More Unemployed?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 991-1013, October.
    3. Christopher A. Pissarides & Barbara Petrongolo, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June.
    4. Benedikt Herz & Thijs van Rens, 2020. "Accounting for Mismatch Unemployment," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1619-1654.
    5. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
    6. Laamanen, Jani-Petri, 2017. "Home-ownership and the Labour Market: Evidence from Rental Housing Market Deregulation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 157-167.
    7. Valletta, Robert G., 2013. "House lock and structural unemployment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 86-97.
    8. Claire Dujardin & Florence Goffette-Nagot, 2009. "Does public housing occupancy increase unemployment?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(6), pages 823-851, November.
    9. Harminder Battu & Ada Ma & Euan Phimister, 2008. "Housing Tenure, Job Mobility and Unemployment in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(527), pages 311-328, March.
    10. Smith, Tony E. & Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Spatial mismatch, search effort, and urban spatial structure," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 129-156, July.
    11. Modestino, Alicia Sasser & Dennett, Julia, 2013. "Are American homeowners locked into their houses? The impact of housing market conditions on state-to-state migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 322-337.
    12. Richard K. Green & Patric H. Hendershott, 2001. "Home-ownership and Unemployment in the US," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(9), pages 1509-1520, August.
    13. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & Pierre Koning, 2006. "The Effect of Home-Ownership on Labour Mobility in the Netherlands," Chapters, in: Julián Messina & Claudio Michelacci & Jarkko Turunen & Gylfi Zoega (ed.), Labour Market Adjustments in Europe, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2003. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 809-827, November.
    15. Serafinelli, Michel, 2013. "Good Firms, Worker Flows and Productivity," MPRA Paper 49055, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Aug 2013.
    16. Ferreira, Fernando & Gyourko, Joseph & Tracy, Joseph, 2010. "Housing busts and household mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 34-45, July.
    17. Hughes, Gordon & McCormick, Barry, 1981. "Do Council Housing Policies Reduce Migration between Regions?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 91(364), pages 919-937, December.
    18. William A. Fischel, 2004. "An Economic History of Zoning and a Cure for its Exclusionary Effects," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 317-340, February.
    19. David N.F. Bell & David G. Blanchflower, 2010. "Uk Unemployment In The Great Recession," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 214(1), pages 3-25, October.
    20. Ganong, Peter & Shoag, Daniel, 2012. "Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?," Working Paper Series rwp12-028, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    21. Michel Serafinelli, 2015. "'Good' Firms, Worker Flows and Local Productivity," Working Paper series 15-29, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    22. Mortensen, Dale & Pissarides, Christopher, 2011. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 1-19.
    23. William T. Dickens & Robert K. Triest, 2012. "Potential effects of the Great Recession on the U.S. labor market," Working Papers 12-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    24. Oswald Andrew J., 1996. "A Conjecture on the Explanation for High Unemployment in the Industrialized Nations : Part I," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 475, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    25. Roback, Jennifer, 1982. "Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1257-1278, December.
    26. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "Regional Evolutions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 1-76.
    27. Kari Hämäläinen & Petri Böckerman, 2004. "Regional Labor Market Dynamics, Housing, and Migration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 543-568, August.
    28. Dohmen, Thomas J., 2005. "Housing, mobility and unemployment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 305-325, May.
    29. Coulson, N. Edward & Fisher, Lynn M., 2009. "Housing tenure and labor market impacts: The search goes on," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 252-264, May.
    30. Allen Head & Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2012. "Housing Liquidity, Mobility, and the Labour Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(4), pages 1559-1589.
    31. Henry S. Farber, 2012. "Unemployment in the Great Recession: Did the Housing Market Crisis Prevent the Unemployed from Moving to Take Jobs?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 520-525, May.
    32. Oswald, Andrew J. & Wu, Stephen, 2010. "Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-being: Evidence from the USA," IZA Discussion Papers 4695, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    33. McCormick, Barry, 1983. "Housing and Unemployment in Great Britain," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(0), pages 283-305, Supplemen.
    34. Dickens William T. & Triest Robert K., 2012. "Potential Effects of the Great Recession on the U.S. Labor Market," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 1-41, October.
    35. Linn, M.W. & Sandifer, R. & Stein, S., 1985. "Effects of unemployment on mental and physical health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 75(5), pages 502-506.
    36. Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2012. "Migration, housing market, and labor market responses to employment shocks," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 267-284.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Morescalchi, 2016. "The Puzzle Of Job Search And Housing Tenure: A Reconciliation Of Theory And Empirical Evidence," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 288-312, March.
    2. Daan Isebaert & Freddy Heylen & Carine Smolders, 2015. "Houses and/or Jobs: Ownership and the Labour Market in Belgian Districts," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(8), pages 1387-1406, August.
    3. Yang, Xi, 2019. "The effects of home ownership on post-unemployment wages," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Vives Coscojuela, Cecilia, 2018. "Housing Tenure, Geographical Mobility and the Labour Market: the Role of the Employment Exit Rate," IKERLANAK 30207, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico I.
    5. Broulíková, Hana M. & Huber, Peter & Montag, Josef & Sunega, Petr, 2020. "Homeownership, mobility, and unemployment: Evidence from housing privatization," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    6. Meekes, Jordy & Hassink, Wolter, 2017. "The Role of the Housing Market in Workers' Resilience to Job Displacement after Firm Bankruptcy," IZA Discussion Papers 10894, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. J. Meekes & W.H.J. Hassink, 2016. "The role of the housing market in workers’ resilience to job displacement after firm bankruptcy," Working Papers 16-10, Utrecht School of Economics.
    8. Gaetano Lisi, 2016. "Mortgage Market, Housing Tenure Choice and Unemployment," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 472-493, November.
    9. Meekes, Jordy & Hassink, Wolter H.J., 2019. "The role of the housing market in workers′ resilience to job displacement after firm bankruptcy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 41-65.
    10. Beugnot, Julie & Lacroix, Guy & Charlot, Olivier, 2014. "Homeownership and Labour Market Outcomes: Micro versus Macro Performances," IZA Discussion Papers 8599, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Ning Jia & Raven Molloy & Christopher Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2023. "The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 144-180, March.
    12. Caliendo, Marco & Gielen, Anne C. & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2015. "Home-ownership, unemployed’s job search behavior and post-unemployment outcomes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 218-221.
    13. Brown, Jennifer & Matsa, David A., 2020. "Locked in by leverage: Job search during the housing crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 623-648.
    14. Ch.-M. CHEVALIER & R. LARDEUX, 2017. "Homeownership and labor market outcomes: disentangling externality and composition effects," Documents de Travail de l'Insee - INSEE Working Papers g2017-09, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
    15. Julie Beugnot & Olivier Charlot & Guy Lacroix, 2019. "Does promoting homeownership always damage labour market performances?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 161-183, July.
    16. Vives Coscojuela, Cecilia, 2015. "Geographical mobility and the labour market," IKERLANAK 15485, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico I.
    17. Parkhomenko, Andrii, 2016. "Opportunity to Move: Macroeconomic Effects of Relocation Subsidies," MPRA Paper 75256, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Bloze, Gintautas & Skak, Morten, 2016. "Housing equity, residential mobility and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 156-165.
    19. Hilber, Christian A.L. & Lyytikäinen, Teemu, 2017. "Transfer taxes and household mobility: Distortion on the housing or labor market?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 57-73.
    20. Christian A. L. Hilber & Teemu Lyytikäinen, 2012. "The Effect of the UK Stamp Duty Land Tax on Household Mobility," SERC Discussion Papers 0115, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    natural rate of unemployment; labor market; housing market; structural; business cycles; mobility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp7640. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.