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Unaffordable housing and local employment growth

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  • Ritashree Chakrabarti
  • Junfu Zhang

Abstract

High housing prices have caused concerns among policy makers as well as the public in many U.S. regions. There is a general belief that unaffordable housing could drive businesses away and thus impede job growth. However, there has been little empirical evidence that supports this view. In this paper, we clarify how housing affordability is linked to employment growth and why unaffordable housing could negatively affect employment growth. We empirically measure this effect using data on California municipalities and U.S. metropolitan areas and counties. It is argued that for various reasons a simple correlation between unaffordable housing and employment growth should not be interpreted as causal. We therefore develop some empirical strategies and employ statistical techniques to estimate the causal effect of unaffordable housing on employment growth. Our results provide consistent evidence that indeed unaffordable housing slows growth in local employment. We discuss policy implications of these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Ritashree Chakrabarti & Junfu Zhang, 2010. "Unaffordable housing and local employment growth," New England Public Policy Center Working Paper 10-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbcw:10-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Ritashree Chakrabarti & Junfu Zhang, 2015. "Unaffordable housing and local employment growth: Evidence from California municipalities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(6), pages 1134-1151, May.
    2. Michael Klien, 2024. "Hohe Wohnkosten als Belastung für den Wirtschaftsstandort Salzburg," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 71319, February.
    3. Uche Oluku & Shaoming Cheng, 2021. "A Regional Analysis of the Relationship Between Housing Affordability and Business Growth," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 35(4), pages 269-286, November.

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    Keywords

    Housing - Prices; Employment;

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