IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v87y2021ics0166046221000107.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mortgage subsidies, homeownership, and marriage: Effects of the VA loan program

Author

Listed:
  • Ricks, Judith S.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of mortgage subsidies on homeownership and marriage. The empirical design exploits both access to the Veteran’s Administration Loan Guaranty Program and geographic variation in house prices. The results show that veterans living in one standard deviation higher house price areas had 22.7 percent higher homeownership and 8.7 percent higher marriage. These differences cannot be explained by differences in income or educational attainment. The evidence supports that reductions in the down payment constraint mattered more than the relative cost homeownership. This suggests that mortgage subsidies affect housing demand through both the homeownership and household formation channels.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricks, Judith S., 2021. "Mortgage subsidies, homeownership, and marriage: Effects of the VA loan program," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:87:y:2021:i:c:s0166046221000107
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2021.103650
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046221000107
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2021.103650?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Lemieux & David Card, 2001. "Education, earnings, and the ‘Canadian G.I. Bill’," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 313-344, May.
    2. Hendershott, Patric H. & Ong, Rachel & Wood, Gavin A. & Flatau, Paul, 2009. "Marital history and home ownership: Evidence from Australia," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 13-24, March.
    3. Richard K. Green & Susan M. Wachter, 2005. "The American Mortgage in Historical and International Context," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 93-114, Fall.
    4. John Bound & Sarah Turner, 2002. "Going to War and Going to College: Did World War II and the G.I. Bill Increase Educational Attainment for Returning Veterans?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 784-815, October.
    5. Andrew D. Paciorek, 2013. "The long and the short of household formation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-26, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Haurin Donald R. & Hendershott Patric H. & Kim Dongwook, 1994. "Housing Decisions of American Youth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 28-45, January.
    7. Brueckner, Jan K., 1986. "The downpayment constraint and housing tenure choice : A simplified exposition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 519-525, November.
    8. Leah Boustan & Allison Shertzer, 2013. "Population Trends as a Counterweight to Central City Decline, 1950–2000," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(1), pages 125-147, February.
    9. Daniel K. Fetter, 2013. "How Do Mortgage Subsidies Affect Home Ownership? Evidence from the Mid-century GI Bills," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 111-147, May.
    10. Artle, Roland & Varaiya, Pravin, 1978. "Life cycle consumption and homeownership," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 38-58, June.
    11. Donald R. Haurin & Stuart S. Rosenthal, 2007. "The Influence of Household Formation on Homeownership Rates Across Time and Race," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 35(4), pages 411-450, December.
    12. Kelly Bedard & Olivier Deschênes, 2006. "The Long-Term Impact of Military Service on Health: Evidence from World War II and Korean War Veterans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 176-194, March.
    13. Vigdor, Jacob L., 2006. "Liquidity constraints and housing prices: Theory and evidence from the VA Mortgage Program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1579-1600, September.
    14. Lee, Kwan Ok & Painter, Gary, 2013. "What happens to household formation in a recession?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 93-109.
    15. Dietz, Robert D. & Haurin, Donald R., 2003. "The social and private micro-level consequences of homeownership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 401-450, November.
    16. Angrist, Joshua & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Why Do World War II Veterans Earn More Than Nonveterans?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 74-97, January.
    17. Gary V. Engelhardt & Michael D. Eriksen & Nadia Greenhalgh‐Stanley, 2019. "The Impact of Employment on Parental Coresidence," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1055-1088, December.
    18. Matthew Larsen & T. McCarthy & Jeremy Moulton & Marianne Page & Ankur Patel, 2015. "War and Marriage: Assortative Mating and the World War II GI Bill," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1431-1461, October.
    19. Eugene N. White & Kenneth Snowden & Price Fishback, 2014. "Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fish12-2.
    20. Marcus Stanley, 2003. "College Education and the Midcentury GI Bills," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 671-708.
    21. Ermisch, John, 1999. "Prices, Parents, and Young People's Household Formation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 47-71, January.
    22. White, Eugene N. & Snowden, Kenneth & Fishback, Price V. (ed.), 2014. "Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226073842.
    23. Kenneth Snowden & Eugene N. White & Price Fishback, 2014. "Introduction to "Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective"," NBER Chapters, in: Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective, pages 1-13, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hongjun Li & Zheng Li & Cheng Hsiao, 2023. "Assessing the impacts of pandemic and the increase in minimum down payment rate on Shanghai housing prices," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(6), pages 2661-2682, June.
    2. Muhammad Adil Rauf & Olaf Weber, 2022. "Housing Sustainability: The Effects of Speculation and Property Taxes on House Prices within and beyond the Jurisdiction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Megan D. Thomas, 2017. "WWII GI Bill and its Effect on Low Education Levels: Did the World War II GI Bill have an Effect on High School Completion, Poverty, and Employment?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(4), pages 492-515, Fall.
    2. Tan, Hui Ren, 2020. "Did military service during World War I affect the economic status of American veterans?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Matthew Larsen & T. McCarthy & Jeremy Moulton & Marianne Page & Ankur Patel, 2015. "War and Marriage: Assortative Mating and the World War II GI Bill," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1431-1461, October.
    4. Daniel K. Fetter, 2013. "How Do Mortgage Subsidies Affect Home Ownership? Evidence from the Mid-century GI Bills," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 111-147, May.
    5. Lennon, Conor, 2023. "Women’s educational attainment, marriage, and fertility: Evidence from the 1944 G.I. Bill," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Joshua D. Angrist & Stacey H. Chen, 2007. "Long-term consequences of vietnam-era conscription: schooling, experience, and earnings," NBER Working Papers 13411, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Eriksen, Michael D., 2010. "Homeownership subsidies and the marriage decisions of low-income households," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 490-497, November.
    8. Jongkwan Lee, 2023. "The impact of a local human capital shock: evidence from World War II veterans," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1765-1798, July.
    9. Marianne Page, 2006. "Father's Education and Children's Human Capital: Evidence from the World War II GI Bill," Working Papers 84, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    10. Ryan D. Edwards, 2016. "Health, SES, and the timing of education among military retirees," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 393-410, August.
    11. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2017. "Military experience and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 141-184, March.
    12. Kimbrough, Gray, 2013. "The Educational Legacy of the Greatest Generation: Paternal Military Service and Baby Boomer Educational Progress," UNCG Economics Working Papers 13-16, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics, revised 03 May 2016.
    13. Rose, Jonathan, 2021. "Short-term residential mortgage contracts in American economic history," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Quincy, Sarah, 2022. "Income shocks and housing spillovers: Evidence from the World War I Veterans’ Bonus," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    15. Olsen, Edgar O. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2015. "US Housing Policy," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 887-986, Elsevier.
    16. Torun, Huzeyfe, 2019. "Ex-ante labor market effects of compulsory military service," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 90-110.
    17. Brian Duncan & Hani Mansour & Bryson Rintala, 2019. "Weighing The Military Option: The Effects Of Wartime Conditions On Investments In Human Capital," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 264-282, January.
    18. Hou, Benyufang & Liu, Hong & Wang, Sophie Xuefei, 2020. "Returns to military service in off-farm wage employment: Evidence from rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    19. Zhou Yu & Dowell Myers, 2010. "Misleading Comparisons of Homeownership Rates when the Variable Effect of Household Formation Is Ignored: Explaining Rising Homeownership and the Homeownership Gap between Blacks and Asians in the US," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(12), pages 2615-2640, November.
    20. Christopoulou, Rebekka & Pantalidou, Maria, 2022. "The parental home as labor market insurance for young Greeks during the Great Recession," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(3), pages 313-350, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing policy; Mortgage subsidies; Household formation; Marriage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:87:y:2021:i:c:s0166046221000107. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.