Does homeownership hinder labor market activity? Evidence from housing privatization and restitution.

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Authors

MIKULA Štěpán MONTAG Josef

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source JOURNAL OF HOUSING ECONOMICS
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Economics and Administration

Citation
web https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2023.101949
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2023.101949
Keywords Homeownership;Labor force participation;Unemployment;Housing privatization;Housing restitution
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Description We study whether homeownership hinders labor force participation and increases unemployment. Using a unique dataset from the city of Brno, Czech Republic, we exploit housing reforms that followed the Velvet Revolution, and the subsequent fall of communism, as a source of exogenous assignment of homeownership. Across several estimation approaches, we do not find any evidence of homeownership hindering labor market activity. The estimated effects on labor force participation are around zero and our estimates for unemployment suggest that homeownership reduces it by four to six percentage points. Homeownership thus appears to benefit labor market performance.
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