Work

Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners Better Citizens?

Year: 1998

Type: report

Abstract: Homeownership may encourage investment in local amenities and social capital, both because homeownership gives individuals an incentive to improve their community and because homeownership creates barriers to mobility. Using the U.S. General Social Survey, we document that homeowners invest more in social capital; a simple instrumental variables strategy suggests that the relationship may be causal. We also find evidence that a large portion of the effect of homeownership on these investments comes from lower mobility rates for homeowners. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find a connection between homeownership and citizenship controlling for individual fixed effects.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w6363

Authors: Denise DiPasquale, Edward Glaeser

Institutions: Brookings Institution, National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Social Capital and Networks

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W1976905366

Cites: 6

Cited by: 399

Related to: 10