Local house prices and mental health

Nayan Joshi ()

International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 2016, vol. 16, issue 1, 89-102

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of local (county-level) house prices on individual self-reported mental health using individual level data from the United States Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System between 2005 and 2011. Exploiting a fixed-effects model that relies on within-county variations, relative to the corresponding changes in other counties, I find that while individuals are likely to experience worse self-reported mental health when local house prices decline, this association is most pronounced for individuals who are least likely to be homeowners. This finding is not consistent with a prediction from a pure wealth mechanism but rather with the hypothesis that house prices act as an economic barometer. I also demonstrate that the association between self-reported mental health and local house prices is not driven by unemployment or foreclosure. The primary result—that lower local house prices have adverse impact on self-reported mental health of homeowners and renters—is consistent with studies using data from the United Kingdom. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Keywords: Wealth; Mental health; House prices; Fixed effects model; D12; I0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10754-015-9177-x

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