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Das House-Kapital: A Theory of Wealth-to-Income Ratios

Author

Listed:
  • Volker Grossmann
  • Thomas Steger

Abstract

This paper provides a novel macroeconomic model that is specifically designed to investigate the evolution of housing wealth. To capture the importance of land as an input factor for housing production and for the evolution of wealth in a growing economy, the analysis builds on three premises: (1) the overall land endowment is fixed; (2) the production of new houses requires land as an essential input, whereas replacement investment does not; (3) land employed for real estate development must be permanently withdrawn from alternative uses. The calibrated model replicates the historical evolution of housing wealth after Word War II remarkably accurately and accounts for the close connection of house prices to land prices in the data. It suggests a considerable further increase in housing wealth, relative to income, that is associated with a future surge in land prices and house prices. The model also provides new insights into the dynamics of non-residential wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Volker Grossmann & Thomas Steger, 2016. "Das House-Kapital: A Theory of Wealth-to-Income Ratios," CESifo Working Paper Series 5844, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5844
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Piazzesi, M. & Schneider, M., 2016. "Housing and Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1547-1640, Elsevier.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular Trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is Back... and Should Be Taxed," Sciences Po publications 2019-14, Sciences Po.
    2. Marius Brülhart & Didier Dupertuis & Elodie Moreau, 2018. "Inheritance flows in Switzerland, 1911–2011," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 154(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Miles, David & Sefton, James, 2017. "Houses across time and across place," CEPR Discussion Papers 12103, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Grossmann, Volker & Schäfer, Andreas & Steger, Thomas & Fuchs, Benjamin, 2017. "Reversal of migration flows: A fresh look at the German reunification," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1-15.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1eob9f9aas9q18hfjsiqhggvi2 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Angeliki Skoura, 2019. "Detection of Lead-Lag Relationships Using Both Time Domain and Time-Frequency Domain; An Application to Wealth-To-Income Ratio," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-27, April.
    7. Bonnet, Odran & Chapelle, Guillaume & Trannoy, Alain & Wasmer, Etienne, 2021. "Land is back, it should be taxed, it can be taxed," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    8. Borri, Nicola & Reichlin, Pietro, 2018. "The housing cost disease," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 106-123.
    9. Odran Bonnet, 2018. "Individual housing choices and aggregate housing prices: discrete choice models revisited with matching models," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/3bhpicpe2q8, Sciences Po.
    10. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular Trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is Back... and Should Be Taxed," Sciences Po publications 2019-14, Sciences Po.
    11. Andreas Irmen & Amer Tabakovic, 2016. "Factor Income Distribution and Endogenous Economic Growth - When Piketty meets Romer -," DEM Discussion Paper Series 16-18, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3bhpicpe2q8a090eu5p3dvakb6 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/1eob9f9aas9q18hfjsiqhggvi2 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/56k383m9o9kpb1g6f8rvv74ok is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Flamerie de la Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is back...and should be taxed," SciencePo Working papers hal-03541411, HAL.
    16. Luigi Bonatti, 2017. "Land, Housing, Growth and Inequality," DEM Working Papers 2017/01, Department of Economics and Management.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth-to-income ratios; housing wealth; non-residential wealth; house prices; land prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General
    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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