Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, Herman

Titel

Essays in housing and homeownership

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2011

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• CHAPTER 1: Measuring the External Benefits of Homeownership (with N. Edward Coulson): This chapter analyzes homeownership externailities in a neighborhood setting. We use the clustered neighborhoods in the American Housing Survey to measure that benefit in the form of higher housing prices in neighborhoods with higher ownership rates (and lower vacancies). We attempt to account for unobservable neighborhood and house attributes that may be correlated with occupancy and ownership through instrumental variables, switching regressions and panel methods. The subsidization of homeownership, e.g. the mortgage interest deduction is justified on efficiency grounds only to the extent that it provides benefits to people other than the homeowner. Estimates indicate that a housing transition from renting to owning creates approximately $1000 in measured benefits, which is more than the deadweight loss arising from the mortgage interest deduction. CHAPTER 2: Analyzing Home Improvement Behavior in a Dynamic Setting: This chapter concentrates on the determinants of home improvement behavior in a dynamic setting both with and without neighborhood effects. In the evolution of the body of home improvement literature, there have been two basic ways of approaching home improvement behavior. The first method looks at moving behavior in that a homeowner can "change" housing capital simply by moving. The other method, which becomes my focus, is the physical improvement of a homeowner's own unit. Early studies first analyzed improvement behavior using a static framework, and until recently, only very basic dynamic analyses of home improvement behavior. This is an extension of the current body of literature concerning home improvement behavior with an emphasis on dynamic and neighborhood aspects. While using data publicly available from the American Housing Survey (AHS), I conduct analyses that examine the home improvement behavior in various dynamic settings including one with neighborhood effects. According to the US Census Bureau, $135 billion was spent on home improvement activities in 2007 alone, so the analysis is not only looks at a vital part of the economy, but also a vital part of homeownership.