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- Hansson, Fredrik, 1987-
(författare)
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Consequences of Poor Housing : Essays on Urban and Health Economics
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Essay I: Research shows that low fetal doses of radiation from nuclear catastrophes and atmospheric test bombings of nuclear weapons cause cognitive birth defects. These events are uncommon and the radioactive isotopes they create rarely reach harmful levels in nature. The findings would have greater external validity if they could be extrapolated to other more common isotopes and sources of everyday radiation exposure. Two such isotopes are uranium and radon, which exist in various concentrations across the globe. In this paper, I study the in utero impact of indoor radiation from radon gas and uranium rich concrete on cognitive ability. The results show no evidence suggesting that everyday levels of indoor radiation may affect children’s human capital development.Essay II: This paper studies if indoor radiation from uranium and radon is capitalized into housing prices. Using detailed measurements on the level of radiation, I estimate housing price elasticities with respect to radiation among both single-family detached homes and apartments in multi-story buildings. The results for the single-family homes show that both uranium in the bedrock and indoor radon levels are negatively correlated with the housing price. While the estimates for the single-family homes might be biased due to omitted geographical variables that are correlated with the level of radiation, the capitalization of radiation among apartments in multi-story buildings can be estimated using only within-building variation in the level of radiation. I use building-fixed effects to test for the existence of a vertical pollution price component to the vertical rent curve. Radon gas is heavier than average indoor air and higher concentrations are mostly found on lower floors in areas with high uranium concentrations in the bedrock. Theory predicts that apartments on higher floors will be priced higher relative to the first floor in more polluted areas, but I find no empirical support for this hypothesis.Essay III: This paper tests for asymmetric effects of changes in population and hous-ing prices on subjective well-being among homeowners and renters. I first look at some descriptive facts and find that housing is an important determinant of subjective well-being and that residents in suburbs are slightly less happy than both inner city and countryside residents once homeownership and individual characteristics are controlled for. Looking at subjective well-being across cities, I analyze the effect of population growth on happiness and show that homeowners and renters experience asymmetric happiness effects from city growth. This leads me to test the hypothesis that the asymmetric effect is due to differences in wealth from migration-induced increases in housing prices and rents. The findings suggest that unexpected dynamic fluctuations in housing prices and asymmetric wealth effects among homeowners and renters cause spatial differences in subjective well-being that persist over time and space.
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| 2. |
- Kindström, Gabriella, 1992-
(författare)
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Urban Dynamics and Contemporary Challenges : Essays on Housing and Neighborhood Amenities
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Essay I (with Che-Yuan Liang) We use microdata on the Swedish population and housing stock to investigate how building new homes affects the housing distribution across income groups. While primarily rich people move into new homes, poor people are well represented among in-movers to vacated homes. As homes age and deteriorate, they filter down; it takes approximately 30 years for new homes to reach an even income distribution. We also find that in municipalities with higher construction rates, every income group gets better access to newer housing and housing space. Overall, we conclude that new homes, even those initially primarily inhabited by rich people, lead to substantial trickle-down effects.Essay II (with Fabian Brunåker, Matz Dahlberg, and Che-Yuan Liang) Using almost three decades of full-population register data with detailed geo-coded information on how and where all individuals in Sweden live, their moving patterns, and their socio-economic characteristics, this paper examines if new large-scale housing construction is a suitable policy tool for revitalizing poor neighborhoods. The answer is yes. We find that not only do new large developments of market-rate condominiums lead to an increase in the average income of 15% in the poorest quartile of neighborhoods, but the average income rises by 10% also in pre-existing homes. We do not find any signs of displacement of incumbent residents.Essay III Homeowners often oppose new housing due to a fear of declining property values. However, the effect on prices is theoretically ambiguous. In this paper, I study the impact of new large-scale housing on housing prices using Swedish registry data, data on housing prices, and neighborhood amenities. I find that new housing increases prices in low-income neighborhoods. In contrast, high-income neighborhoods experience a decline in prices, including within their pre-existing housing stock. The latter could partly stem from a suggested increase in densification.Essay IV Can policymakers affect spatial inequalities by providing local amenities? In this study, I explore the effects of schools on neighborhoods by studying school closures. Using geo-coded, full-population Swedish microdata, I find that school closures decrease the share of high-income earners, primarily attributed to individuals with children. This effect is more pronounced in urban areas, while rural areas become depopulated. These effects align with pre-existing trends, indicating that school closures exacerbate initial spatial inequalities.
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