Does your home make you wealthy?
A Killewald, B Bryan - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of …, 2016 - rsfjournal.org
Estimating the lifetime wealth consequences of homeownership is complicated by ongoing
events, such as divorce or inheritance, that may shape both homeownership decisions and
later-life wealth. We argue that prior research that has not accounted for these dynamic
selection processes has overstated the causal effect of homeownership on wealth. Using
NLSY79 data and marginal structural models, we find that each additional year of
homeownership increases midlife wealth in 2008 by about $6,800, more than 25 percent …
events, such as divorce or inheritance, that may shape both homeownership decisions and
later-life wealth. We argue that prior research that has not accounted for these dynamic
selection processes has overstated the causal effect of homeownership on wealth. Using
NLSY79 data and marginal structural models, we find that each additional year of
homeownership increases midlife wealth in 2008 by about $6,800, more than 25 percent …