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Home Ownership and Political Participation: Longitudinal Evidence Suggests There is No Causal Relationship

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The effect of home ownership on political participation is examined using longitudinal data from New Zealand. We study political party membership, and if and how individuals voted in six General Elections, using validated data. There is a positive correlation between being a home owner and ever voting, and between political party membership and the local home ownership rate. Individual home ownership and the home ownership rate negatively correlate with voting for left-wing political parties. But once the longitudinal nature of the data are exploited, using fixed effects specifications, these significant correlations disappear. This change in the results suggests that unobserved factors that predispose people to be a home owner also affect their political participation.

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  • John Gibson & Bonggeun Kim, 2018. "Home Ownership and Political Participation: Longitudinal Evidence Suggests There is No Causal Relationship," Working Papers in Economics 18/02, University of Waikato.
    • Handle: RePEc:wai:econwp:18/02
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    home ownership; omitted variables; political participation; voting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

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