Individual housing choices and aggregate housing prices : discrete choice models revisited with matching models[Des choix résidentiels individuels et des prix immobiliers agrégés : les modèles de choix discrets revisités sous l’angle des modèles d’appariements]

The first two of the three chapters of this thesis examine the identification and the estimation of discrete choice models. The first chapter proves the equivalence between matching models and discrete choice models, and draws the consequences in terms of identification and estimation. The second chapter builds on the results of the first, and uses matching algorithms to estimate the marginal willingness to pay of households for various housing and neighborhood characteristics in Paris (such as school performance, crime level, distance to employment areas). The third chapter deals with another topic: it first shows that the recent rise in the capital-income ratio highlighted by Thomas Piketty in his book is due to the rise in housing prices, and it then explores the consequences in terms of wealth distribution.