Housing policy and the distribution of wealth: A comparison of Austrian regions

Beschreibung

Increasingly, studies on wealth inequality identify housing policy and the promotion of home-ownership versus renting as a crucial channel by which social policy structures the distribution of wealth. This research project investigates whether the link between tenure and wealth distribution differs across models of housing policy. Following recent scholarship on housing regimes, the analysis assumes a sub-national, comparative approach, focusing on Austria. An archetypical case for integrated rental markets on the national level, Austria features substantial regional devolution of housing policy. This allows for studying the association between tenure and wealth distribution using regression-based methods with a granular focus on market institutions, controlling for a large set of confounding factors by design. Supplementing survey data on household wealth with detailed survey para-data on housing, the results suggest that institutional features of housing markets are relevant for wealth accumulation and - distribution. The analysis finds that the relationship between tenure and both mean wealth and wealth inequality is less pronounced in Vienna, compared to urban areas in other federal states. Overall, we make the case for a more granular perspective on housing policy institutions when it comes to studying their implications for wealth inequality outcomes.

Zeitraum	29 Apr. 2022
Ereignistitel	Stone Center on Economic Inequality Wealth Seminar Series
Veranstaltungstyp	Keine Angaben
Bekanntheitsgrad	International