The puzzle of job search and housing tenure. A reconciliation of theory and empirical evidence

Andrea Morescalchi

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Oswald's thesis posits that workers who own their own home should have longer unemployment spells due to restricted mobility, but repeatedly the reverse is found. We contribute to shed light on this puzzle in two key ways. First, we show that the thesis holds when stated in terms of search intensity instead of unemployment. In a job search model with moving costs we show that unemployed homeowners search less than renters. We confirm this result empirically using UK LFS data. Second, we provide evidence that homeowners select search methods associated with shorter unemployment spells, suggesting that they search more effciently.

Keywords: job search; search methods; housing tenure; homeownership; Oswald effect. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 J64 R21 R23 R29 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: THE PUZZLE OF JOB SEARCH AND HOUSING TENURE: A RECONCILIATION OF THEORY AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:59079

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