Search

Like most states, Massachusetts underwent a large shift in public school enrollments between the 1980s and 1990s, requiring a number of sizable fiscal and educational adjustments by individual school districts. [...]

The construction of new housing plays a critical role in the economy, yet it is understudied by researchers. Increases in housing starts raise construction employment, and recent home buyers often purchase other consumer durables, leading through the multiplier effect to increased employment. Construction is especially important to the business cycle, because changes in residential construction tend to lead recessions and recovery. Despite its importance, empirical research on housing supply is surprisingly rare. This article presents a new empirical model of housing supply that reflects the land development process and is consistent with the time-series characteristics of the data. The authors apply this model to the four U.S. Census regions and estimate regional housing start elasticities, which range between 0.9 and 3.9. Their estimates also show a prolonged period of below-predicted construction in the Northeast during the early 1990s that does not appear during the downturns in other regions. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a severe negative shock to local asset values (and thus bank capital), possibly combined with changes in banking regulation, led to a 'credit crunch' that reduced new housing construction., Housing construction plays a critical role in the economy. Increases in housing starts raise construction employment, and recent home buyers often purchase other consumer durables, leading through the multiplier effect [...]

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the growing gap between the earnings of Americans at the top and at the bottom of the income distribution, as reviewed [...]

Earnings inequality has increased markedly in the United States in recent decades. In 1979, full-time workers at the 90th percentile of the wage distribution earned about three times as much [...]

Numerous studies over the years have attempted to identify the impact of amenities on housing price levels within specific metropolitan areas. It is well known, for example, that local public [...]

Rapid increases in house prices can make home ownership more difficult for prospective first-time home buyers by increasing the required down payment amount and, if the increases outpace income growth, by increasing the ratio of mortgage payments to income. In response to such constraints, households may seek a gift or loan from a family member to use as part of the down payment. Family transfers for housing purchase may be useful in understanding the relationship between housing finance and housing markets. Gifts may play a critical role for some households in home purchase activity in real estate cycles. This article documents the frequency and magnitude of family gifts for housing purchase and explores economic explanations for their role in home financing.

Most elderly hold a significant portion of their non-pension wealth in housing equity. Although they might prefer to use this housing equity to finance current consumption, to pay for an emergency, or to help out a relative in need, utilizing this wealth would force the sale of their home. Traditional home equity lines of credit require that principal and interest be paid back over a fixed time interval, yet many elderly want to avoid mortgage payments because they live on a limited income. Reverse mortgages hold the promise of helping elderly homeowners out of this bind by allowing them to borrow against their housing equity and receive monthly payments, while still living in their home until they die or choose to move. Although reverse mortgages have been offered for more than a decade, the market has never gained significant size. This article demonstrates a large potential market for reverse mortgages and discusses demand and supply explanations as to why the current number of reverse mortgages is so small.

Changes in house prices are generally reported on an aggregate basis. This article suggests that within a metropolitan area, high-value and low-value homes appreciate at different rates. Overall, the author's results indicate that appreciation rates are more volatile for high-priced homes than for less expensive homes around the real estate cycle. The different rates of price appreciation are partly explained by changes in the user cost of owning a home. Cyclical factors also play a part. Furthermore, the author found that changes in the prices of lower-value homes have a contemporaneous effect on high-end home prices, while the opposite is not true. His results suggest that in a house-price boom, first-time homebuyers may be in a better position to buy a low-priced home than the reported, aggregate price index suggests.