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Positional concerns in housing related preferences in Algeria: How do you stack up?

Author

Listed:
  • Latifa Barbara

    (MDI Alger Business School)

  • Gilles Grolleau

    (ESSCA School of Management Lyon)

  • Assia Houfaf Khoufaf

    (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Management - Partenaires INRAE)

  • Youcef Meriane

    (ENSM - Ecole nationale supérieure de management - pôle universitaire Koléa - Ecole nationale supérieure de management - pôle universitaire Koléa, UCLy - UCLy (Lyon Catholic University))

  • Naoufel Mzoughi

    (ECODEVELOPPEMENT - Ecodéveloppement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

Research on positional concerns -i.e., preferences to having less of a given good but more than otherscovered several domains such as income or social spending but housing related preferences have not attracted much academic attention. This neglect contrasts with anecdotal evidence regarding the importance of positional considerations in this domain. Thanks to a three-world survey data, we explore positional concerns in the housing related domain in Algeria (North Africa). Moreover, unlike previous literature, we tested an innovative hypothesis related to risky versus non-risky situations. Our results show that individuals mainly prefer having more (resp. less) in absolute terms of housing related goods (resp. bads), regardless of others. At the same time, a significant proportion of respondents have preferences for egalitarian and positional situations. Moreover, positional preferences are partly influenced by risk concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Latifa Barbara & Gilles Grolleau & Assia Houfaf Khoufaf & Youcef Meriane & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2025. "Positional concerns in housing related preferences in Algeria: How do you stack up?," Post-Print hal-05084155, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05084155
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05084155v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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