Do homeowners cope better with economic crises in terms of employment? An analysis of micro panel data from Spain, 2004-2013

摘要

This paper investigates the effects of housing tenure choice on the employment status of individuals through the empirical estimation of different dynamic panel data models using Spanish data covering the period 2004-2013. I find that there is no sign of any significant spillover effect of the regional homeownership rate on the probability of employment, whereas the average effect on this probability for the lagged housing tenure choice is robust and significantly positive, ranging around two percentage points for the whole homeowners group and for those homeowners with a mortgage outstanding. The effect vanishes for the outright homeowners. Some implications for policies supporting home ownership are briefly discussed.