Housing Wealth Distribution, Inequality and Residential Satisfaction, 1997-2008

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This dataset encompasses the foundations and findings of a study titled "Housing Wealth Distribution, Inequality, and Residential Satisfaction," highlighting the evolution of residential properties from mere consumption goods to significant assets for wealth accumulation. Since the 1980s, with financial market deregulation in the UK, there has been a noticeable shift in homeownership patterns and housing wealth's role. The liberalisation of the banking sector, particularly mortgage lending, facilitated a significant rise in homeownership rates from around 50% in the 1970s to over 70% in the early 2000s, stabilizing at 65% in recent years. Concurrently, housing wealth relative to household annual gross disposable income has seen a considerable increase, underscoring the growing importance of residential properties as investment goods. The study explores the multifaceted impact of housing wealth on various aspects of life, including retirement financing, intergenerational wealth transfer, health, consumption, energy conservation, and education. Residential satisfaction, defined as the overall experience and contentment with housing, emerges as a critical factor influencing subjective well-being and labor mobility. Despite the evident influence of housing characteristics, social environment, and demographic factors on residential satisfaction, the relationship between housing wealth and satisfaction remains underexplored. To bridge this gap, the research meticulously assembles data from different surveys across the UK and the USA spanning 1970 to 2019, despite challenges such as data compatibility and measurement errors. Initial findings reveal no straightforward correlation between rising house prices and residential satisfaction, mirroring the Easterlin Paradox, which suggests that happiness levels do not necessarily increase with income growth. This paradox is dissected through the lenses of social comparison and adaptation, theorizing that relative income and the human tendency to adapt to changes might explain the stagnant satisfaction levels despite increased housing wealth. Further analysis within the UK context supports the social comparison hypothesis, suggesting that disparities in housing wealth distribution can lead to varied satisfaction levels, potentially exacerbating societal inequality. This phenomenon is not isolated to developed nations but is also pertinent to developing countries experiencing rapid economic growth alongside widening income and wealth gaps. The study concludes by emphasizing the significance of considering housing wealth inequality in policy-making, aiming to mitigate its far-reaching implications on societal well-being.

Although China has almost eliminated urban poverty, the total number of Chinese citizens in poverty remains at 82 million, most of which are rural residents. The development of rural finance is essential to preventing the country from undergoing further polarization because of the significant potential of such development to facilitate resource interflows between rural and urban markets and to support sustainable development in the agricultural sector. However, rural finance is the weakest point in China's financial systems. Rural households are more constrained than their urban counterparts in terms of financial product availability, consumer protection, and asset accumulation. The development of the rural financial system faces resistance from both the demand and the supply sides. The proposed project addresses this challenge by investigating the applications of a proven behavioural approach, namely, Libertarian Paternalism, in the development of rural financial systems in China. This approach promotes choice architectures to nudge people into optimal decisions without interfering with the freedom of choice. It has been rigorously tested and warmly received in the UK public policy domain. This approach also fits the political and cultural background in China, in which the central government needs to maintain a firm control over financial systems as the general public increasingly demands more freedom. Existing behavioural studies have been heavily reliant on laboratory experiments. Although the use of field studies has been increasing, empirical evidence from the developing world is limited. Meanwhile, the applications of behavioural insights in rural economic development in China remains an uncharted territory. Rural finance studies on the household level are limited; evidence on the role of psychological and social factors in rural households' financial decisions is scarce. The proposed project will bridge this gap in the literature. The overarching research question of this project is whether and how behavioural insights can be used to help rural residents in China make sound financial decisions, which will ultimately contribute to the sustainable economic development in China. The research will be conducted through field experiments in rural China. By relying on field evidences, the project team will develop policy tools and checklists for policy makers to help rural households make sound financial decisions. Two types of tools will be developed for policy makers, namely, "push" tools that aim to achieve short-term policy compliance among rural households so that they can break out of the persistent poverty cycle and "pull" tools that can reduce fraud, error, and debt among rural households to prevent them from falling back into poverty. Finally, the project team will also use the research activities and findings as vehicles to engage and educate rural residents, local governments, regulators, and financial institutions. Standard and good practice will be proposed to interested parties for the designs of good behavioural interventions; ethical guidelines will be provided to encourage good practice. This important step ensures that the findings of this project will benefit academia and practice, with long-lasting, positive impacts. The findings will benefit researchers in behavioural finance and economics, rural economics, development economics, political sciences, and psychology. The findings of and the engagement in this project will help policy makers to develop cost-effective behavioural change policies. Rural households will benefit by being nudged into sound financial decisions and healthy financial habits. The project will provide insights on how to leverage behavioural insights to overcome persistent poverty in the developing world. Therefore, the research will be of interest to communities in China and internationally.