The Effects of Housing Assistance on Labor Supply: Evidence from a Voucher Lottery

Brian A. Jacob and Jens Ludwig

No 14570, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This study estimates the effects of means-tested housing programs on labor supply using data from a randomized housing voucher wait-list lottery in Chicago. Evidence for the net effects of housing programs on labor supply is central to a wide range of policy decisions about how to provide housing assistance to the poor. Economic theory is ambiguous about the expected sign of any labor supply response. We find that among working-age, able-bodied adults, housing voucher use reduces quarterly labor force participation rates by 4 percentage points (6 percent of the control complier mean) and quarterly earnings by $285 (10 percent), and increases social program participation rates by 2 percentage points (16 percent of the control mean). These impacts are toward the lower end of the range of recent estimates from other studies of housing programs, but nonetheless do still imply that housing vouchers reduce labor supply.

JEL-codes: I38 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ure
Note: CH ED LS PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published as Jacob, Brian A., and Jens Ludwig. 2012. "The Effects of Housing Assistance on Labor Supply: Evidence from a Voucher Lottery." American Economic Review, 102(1): 272-304. DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.1.272
Published as Brian A Jacob & Jens Ludwig, 2012. "The Effects of Housing Assistance on Labor Supply: Evidence from a Voucher Lottery," American Economic Review, vol 102(1), pages 272-304.

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Journal Article: The Effects of Housing Assistance on Labor Supply: Evidence from a Voucher Lottery (2012)
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