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The Effect of Homeownership on Geographic Mobility and Labor Market Outcomes

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  • Hernan Winkler

    (UCLA)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of homeownership on mobility and labor income and provides new evidence that owning a home makes workers less likely to move in response to labor market shocks. To identify this effect, I develop and estimate a structural dynamic model of housing choices, migration decisions and labor market outcomes. I find that owning a home has a large negative effect on the probability of moving in response to a labor market shock and a small negative effect on labor income. Owners suffering from a decrease in home equity are 40 percent less mobile. I conduct two policy experiments. The first shows that the home mortgage deduction has a positive effect on homeownership, affects mobility and creates an incentive to buy larger houses. Second, I find that if the down payment requirement for buying a home is eliminated, homeownership exhibits a large increase, while the mobility and labor income of households experiencing negative labor market shocks decrease.

Suggested Citation

  • Hernan Winkler, 2011. "The Effect of Homeownership on Geographic Mobility and Labor Market Outcomes," 2011 Meeting Papers 196, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed011:196
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    Cited by:

    1. François Fontaine & Janne Nyborg Jensen & Rune Vejlin, 2019. "Wealth, Portfolios, and Unemployment Duration," 2019 Meeting Papers 949, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Siddharth Kothari & Itay Saporta Eksten & Edison Yu, 2013. "The (Un)importance of Geographical Mobility in the Great Recession"," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(3), pages 553-563, July.
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/n1d9kd7k48keoo4brb07foqbd is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Plamen Nemov, 2015. "Regional Reallocation and Housing Markets in a Model of Frictional Migration," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(4), pages 863-880, October.
    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. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/n1d9kd7k48keoo4brb07foqbd is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Florian Oswald, 2015. "Regional Shocks, Migration and Homeownership," 2015 Meeting Papers 759, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Gaetano Basso & Giovanni Peri, 2020. "Internal Mobility: The Greater Responsiveness of Foreign-Born to Economic Conditions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 77-98, Summer.
    9. Bulent Guler, 2013. "Dual Income Couples and Interstate Migration," 2013 Meeting Papers 898, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Kyle F. Herkenhoff & Lee E. Ohanian, 2011. "Labor Market Dysfunction During the Great Recession," NBER Working Papers 17313, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Bachmann, Rüdiger & Cooper, Daniel, 2014. "The Ins and Arounds in the U.S. Housing Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 10041, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    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. Botsch, Matthew J. & Morris, Stephen D., 2021. "Job loss risk, expected mobility, and home ownership," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    14. Szumilo, Nikodem & Vanino, Enrico, 2021. "Mortgage affordability and entrepreneurship: Evidence from spatial discontinuity in Help-to-Buy equity loans," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).

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