Does Household Finance Affect the Political Process? Evidence from Voter Turnout During a Housing Crisis

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: McCartney, W. Ben
• 署名单位: Purdue University System; Purdue University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhaa064
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 949
• 关键词: ECONOMIC ADVERSITY; negative equity; foreclosure; POLICY; responsiveness; intervention; unemployment; MARKET; IMPACT; price

摘要

I examine the effect of house price declines on voter participation using a novel person-level panel data set. Contrary to what the angry voter hypothesis predicts, I find that a 10% decline in local house prices decreases the participation rate of the average mortgaged homeowner by 1.6 percentage points. Consistent with a financial distress channel, house price declines have no effects on renters and particularly severe effects on highly leveraged households. My findings are consistent with the existence of a feedback loop between financial distress and inequality operating through voter participation.