Home ownership as status competition: Some theory and evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wei, Shang-Jin; Zhang, Xiaobo; Liu, Yin
• 署名单位: Asian Development Bank; Columbia University; Peking University; CGIAR; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Tsinghua University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.12.001
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 169-186
• 关键词: Housing price; Price-rental ratio; Positional good; Excess men; Missing women

摘要

In this paper, we explore the implications of home ownership as a status good for housing prices. More concretely, if a family's housing wealth relative to others is an important sorting variable for relative attractiveness in the marriage market, then competition for marriage partners might motivate people to pursue a bigger and more expensive house/apartment. To test the hypothesis, we explore regional variations in the sex ratio for the pre-marital age cohort across China (as a proxy for differential strength for concerns for status). We find that the evidence is consistent with the status competition hypothesis.