Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners Better Citizens? / Denise DiPasquale, Edward L. Glaeser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DiPasquale, Denise.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Glaeser, Edward L.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w6363.

NBER working paper series no. w6363

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Infrastructure (Economics).

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Incentives and Social Capital

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1998.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1998.

Summary:

Individuals invest in their local environments by volunteering, getting involved in local government, becoming informed about their political leaders, joining non-professional organizations and even gardening. Homeownership may encourage these investments because homeownership gives individuals an incentive to improve their community and because homeownership creates barriers to mobility. Using the U.S. General Social Survey document that homeowners are more likely to invest in social capital, and a simple instrumental variables strategy suggests that the relationship may be causal. While our results are not conclusive, we find evidence that a large portion of the effect of homeownership on these investments may come from lower mobility rates for homeowners. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel homeownership and citizenship controlling for individual fixed effects. Finally, across cities and counties, areas with more homeowners have lower government spending, but spend a larger share of their government budget on education and highways.

Notes:

Print version record

January 1998.