Dietz.

The Social Consequences of Homeownership.- R. Dietz.

This study surveys the social science research catalogue concerning the impacts of homeownership on individuals, households and neighborhoods. It includes studies from the social sciences, medicine, psychology, and other academic fields. As there are specific financial benefits for homeowners, there are also specific social benefits and consequences of homeownership, which include positive impacts with respect to household stability, social involvement, local political participation and activism, environmental awareness, child outcomes, health, crime, and community characteristics.

Boehm.

Does Home Ownership by Parents Have an Economic Impact on Their Children? -Boehm

This paper uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to explore the impact of housing on children’s productivity through educational attainment and through their housing choices as adults after they leave their parent’s home. After controlling for other factors that are normally hypothesized to affect an individual’s education and earnings, we find that the average child of homeowners is significantly more likely to achieve a higher level of education and, thereby, a higher level of earnings

Cairney.

Fields.

Starr.

Housing Tenure and Psychological Well-being During Adolescence. -Cairney

Although a substantial body of work has demonstrated that housing tenure (home ownership vs. renting) is a determinant of health, much less work has focused on this relationship between children and adolescents. This is a significant omission as there is good reason to hypothesize that the effect of housing status on health may change with age. In particular, growing independence and reduced expo- sure to the residential environment may attenuate the association between housing tenure and health as children age. Using a large representative sample of adolescents, ages 12 to 19 years old, the hypothesis that age moderates the relationship between housing tenure and psychological well-being is tested. The findings, in general, support the hypothesis.

Property Rights and Investment in Urban Slums. -Fields

This paper examines the effect of changes in tenure security on residential investment in urban squatter neighborhoods. To address the endogeneity of property rights, I make use of variation in ownership status induced by a nationwide titling program in Peru. In a difference-in-difference analysis, I compare the change in housing investment before and after the program among participating households to the change in investment among two samples of nonparticipants. My results indicate that strengthening property rights in urban slums has a significant effect on residential investment: the rate of housing renovation rises by more than two-thirds of the baseline level. The bulk of the increase is financed without the use of credit, indicating that changes over time reflect an increase in investment incentives related to lower threat of eviction.

Nepal: first came the earthquake, then came the debt. -Starr.

This news article examines the Nepali experience post-earthquake. Families take out loans to rebuild and find themselves caught up in high interest rates of up to 43%, creating a multitude of problems across the country.