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Housing Wealth and Online Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Xiong'an New Area in China

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  • Hanming Fang
  • Long Wang
  • Yang Yang

Abstract

We provide new evidence on the causal effects of housing wealth on consumer behavior. To overcome the empirical challenge of non-random housing wealth changes, we exploit the unexpected announcement of China's newest national-level new area—Xiong'an New Area—on April 1, 2017 as an exogenous shock to housing prices. We use a proprietary dataset of individual-level online consumption from the largest e-commerce company in China to measure various aspects of consumer behavior, such as consumption patterns, purchase hesitation, tolerance to unsatisfied products, and shirking (proxied by making online purchases during work hours). We explore the underlying mechanisms through which the housing shock affects consumer behavior; in particular, we attempt to disentangle the realizable and unrealizable housing wealth effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanming Fang & Long Wang & Yang Yang, 2022. "Housing Wealth and Online Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Xiong'an New Area in China," NBER Working Papers 30465, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30465
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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