More Work or More Leisure? Housing Matters

Abstract

We contribute to the growing number of studies in the literature that focus on the effects of housing on labor in two ways by using the case of China. First, we add leisure consumption, and second, a heterogeneity analysis. Using survey data from 2017, we find that, overall, housing value appreciation significantly reduces labor force participation. However, once the sample is broken down into housing ownership and region, the heterogeneity analysis shows something different. Specifically, for housing renters in high housing price regions, their engagement in the labor market decreases with housing appreciation, which is also true for housing owners. This conclusion is corroborated by a study on leisure, in which leisure is shown to be increasing with housing appreciation, especially for renters in high housing price regions. Our results support the claim that rapidly increasing housing prices might be an important cause for the “lying flat” phenomenon in China.

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