Locked in by leverage: Job search during the housing crisis

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brown, Jennifer; Matsa, David A.
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; Northwestern University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.11.001
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 623-648
• 关键词: Housing market; Mortgage debt; job search; labor mobility

摘要

This paper examines how housing market distress affects job search. Using data from a leading online job search platform during the Great Recession, we find that job seekers in areas with depressed housing markets apply for fewer jobs that require relocation. With their search constrained geographically, job seekers broaden their search for lower-level positions nearby. These effects are stronger for job seekers with recourse mortgages, which we confirm using a spatial regression discontinuity analysis. Our findings suggest that housing market distress distorts labor market outcomes by impeding households' ability to move. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.