

@mastersthesis {7260,
	title = {The effects of homeownership on communities},
	year = {2002},
	note = {3067422},
	school = {Harvard University},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {This work examines positive social externalities coming from homeownership. Homeownership is tax-favored in the United States and other countries because policymakers and the general public believe that homeownership provides large social benefits. These benefits have been said to range from lower crime, to better educational outcomes, cleaner neighborhoods, and more community involvement. Chapter 1 studies the Federal Housing Administration and its effect on homeownership. Using microdata from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses of Population and Housing, I find that during those years the Federal Housing Administration increased homeownership by at least 0.6 percentage points, and more for certain demographic groups, such as Blacks and married couples with children. Chapter 2 studies the effects of homeownership on high school dropout and teenage childbearing rates using the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses of Population and Housing. I use variables derived from Federal Housing Administration underwriting criteria and developed in Chapter 1 as instruments for homeownership. I find that fifteen to seventeen year-old children of homeowners are 4.66 percentage points less likely to drop out of high school than equivalent children of renters, but that female children of homeowners are not less likely to have children as teenagers as children of renters. Chapter 3 studies the effects of homeownership on local government behavior. Economic theory suggests that renter-dominated jurisdictions will be less efficient, will prefer more income redistribution, and will spend less on long-term goods than homeowner-dominated jurisdictions. These theories are tested using the instruments derived from FHA underwriting criteria in Chapter I and municipal- and school district-level data from the 1980 and 1990 Censuses of Population and Housing and the 1982 and 1992 Censuses of Governments. I find that municipalities with higher homeownership rates devote a larger share of their spending on long-term public goods such as education, police protection, and fire protection while spending less on long-term physical infrastructure such as parks, roads, and sewers. Also, municipalities with higher homeownership rates pay higher average wages in services comparable to the private sector such as hospitals, transit, sewers, electric utilities, and water utilities.},
	keywords = {0366:Geography, 0501:Economics, 0533:Secondary education, 0615:Political science, Adolescent parents, Communities, Dropout, economics, Education, Geography, Home ownership, Homeownership, Local governments, Political science, Secondary education, Social impact, Social sciences, Studies},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/305533517?accountid=14270},
	author = {Monroe, IV, Albert Barnett}
}
