Locked in by Leverage: Job Search during the Housing Crisis

Jennifer Brown and David A. Matsa

No 22929, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines how housing market distress affects job search. Using data from a leading online job search platform during the Great Recession, we find that job seekers in areas with depressed housing markets apply for fewer jobs that require relocation. With their search constrained geographically, job seekers broaden their search to lower level positions nearby. These effects are stronger for job seekers with recourse mortgages, which we confirm using spatial regression discontinuity analysis. Our findings suggest that housing market distress distorts labor market outcomes by impeding household mobility.

JEL-codes: D14 J64 R21 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ure
Note: CF LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published as Jennifer Brown & David A. Matsa, 2019. "Locked In by Leverage: Job Search during the Housing Crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, .

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Journal Article: Locked in by leverage: Job search during the housing crisis (2020)
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