Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This paper investigates racial disparities in household credit constraints using UK survey data. We find a widening disparity in the proportion of racial minority households reporting they face credit constraints compared with non-minority households over the period 2006-2009. By 2009 three times as many racial minority households faced credit constraints compared with non-minority households. The difference in credit constraints across racial minority and non-minority households is not explained by a broad set of covariates. While cross-section variation in reported credit constraints might most likely reflect unobservables, we argue this time series variation is very unlikely to arise due to unobservables and is evidence of growing perceived disparity in credit access between racial groups over the period.

We examine the impact of house prices on labour supply decisions using UK microdata. We combine household survey data with local‐level house price measures and controls for local labour demand. Our microdata also allow us to control for individual level income expectations. We find significant house price effects on labour supply, consistent with leisure being a normal good. Labour supply responses to house prices are concentrated among young married female owners and older owners. This finding suggests that house prices affect the decisions of marginal workers in the economy. Our estimates imply that house prices are economically important in the participation decisions for these workers.

We use household panel data to explore the link between changes in house prices and household indebtedness (both secured on housing assets and unsecured) in the United Kingdom. We show that households which are borrowing‐constrained by a lack of housing equity as collateral make greater use of unsecured debt such as credit cards or personal loans. In response to rising house prices, which relax this constraint, such households are more likely to refinance and to increase their indebtedness relative to unconstrained households. However, for most households, house price movements appear to have little impact on indebtedness.