Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: We investigate theoretically and empirically how urban residence contributes to interpersonal differentials in wealth accumulation trajectories through its interrelated influences on labour and housing market outcomes. On the basis of Norwegian register data, we estimate models of one's position in various national wealth distributions over the 2010–2018 period, employing fixed‐effects to reduce geographic selection bias and obtain plausibly causal estimates of the impact of moving between levels of the rural–urban hierarchy. We find that residing in a more urbanized area for a longer duration is strongly related to one's rank in the net wealth, housing wealth and financial wealth distributions. Differentials in net wealth growth among levels of urbanization are most dramatic for younger and higher‐educated individuals, with further advantages for those who settle in Oslo. Structural equation modelling reveals that these plausibly causal effects arise primarily through gains in housing equity and (to a lesser degree) in earnings and capital incomes, confirming our conceptual model.
Source: Population Space and Place
DOI: 10.1002/psp.2753
Authors: George Galster, Terje Wessel
Institutions: Wayne State University, University of Oslo
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,520
Funder: Norges Forskningsråd
Award: G2169391247
OpenAlex ID: W4391109029