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Housing Costs (housing + cost)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	55%
Humanities and Social Sciences	44%

Selected Abstracts

ACCOUNTING FOR POPULATION AGEING IN TAX MICROSIMULATION MODELLING BY SURVEY REWEIGHTING,

AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 1 2006
LIXIN CAI
This paper investigates the use of sample reweighting, in a behavioural tax microsimulation model, to examine the implications for government taxes and expenditure of population ageing in Australia. First, a calibration approach to sample reweighting is described, producing new weights that achieve specified population totals for selected variables. Second, the performance of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) weights provided with the 2000,2001 Survey of Income and Housing Cost (SIHC) was examined and it was found that reweighting does not improve the simulation outcomes for the 2001 situation, so the original ABS weights were retained for 2001. Third, the implications of changes in the age distribution of the population were examined, based on population projections to 2050. A ,pure' change in the age distribution was examined by keeping the aggregate population size fixed and changing only the relative frequencies in different age-gender groups. Finally, the effects of a policy change to benefit taper rates in Australia were compared for 2001 and 2050 population weights. It is suggested that this type of exercise provides an insight into the implications for government income tax revenue and social security expenditure of changes in the population, indicating likely pressures for policy changes. [source]

Flattening the Effective Marginal Tax Rate Structure in Australia: Policy Simulations Using the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator

THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2003
John Creedy
This article uses the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator to examine the effects of a reduction in the means-tested benefit taper, or withdrawal, rates in Australia to 30 per cent. That is, all taper rates of 50 per cent and 70 per cent in the March 1998 benefit system are reduced to 30 per cent, while leaving all basic benefit levels unchanged. This change is therefore expected to ,flatten' the tax structure by reducing the high marginal tax rates applying to those with relatively low incomes and increasing the marginal tax rates of medium incomes. Simulations in which all individuals are assumed to remain at their pre-reform labour supply levels are compared with behavioural simulations in which the majority of individuals are free to adjust the number of hours worked. The results reflect only the supply side of the labour market. The database used is the 1997-98 Survey of Income and Housing Costs, so that weekly incomes are based on the financial year 1997-98. The comparison shows that, for sole parents, accounting for behavioural effects of the reform results in a lower estimated expenditure for government, whereas for couples, accounting for behavioural effects results in a higher estimated expenditure. [source]

Housing costs and the geography of family migration outcomes

POPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 4 2006
Suzanne Davies Withers
Abstract This paper takes a geographical approach towards assessing the ,returns' to family migration by addressing explicitly the impacts of differences in the cost of housing between the place of origin and place of destination for family migrants. While numerous studies have examined differences in labour-force participation and wages subsequent to migration, particularly on the part of wives, few studies have considered the local housing and labour market contexts of these events. This study examines the adjusted earnings outcomes resulting from migration for husbands, wives and families in the United States in the context of local housing costs. Our findings challenge the assumption of simple economic gains and instead indicate that who gains and who loses from family migration is quite complex. The geographical context of family migration is critical in determining gains and losses, and is interrelated with moves in and out of the labour market on the part of wives. Our research indicates that wives who leave the labour market after a move are very likely to have moved to a more affordable housing market. Conversely, wives are found to enter the labour market when the move is to a more expensive housing market. For this group, wives' earnings considerably mitigate the impact on overall family earnings. This paper provides an important contribution to understanding family migration by positioning the analysis of migration outcomes within the context of labour markets and local housing market costs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Critical Events and Labour Mobility: Relocations in the Wake of the Ansett Airlines Collapse

GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2009
SALLY WELLER
Abstract Migration plays an important role in neo-liberal regional adjustment. This paper explores the role of economic shocks in stimulating internal migration within Australia. Drawing on the experiences of retrenched Ansett Airlines employees, it argues that economic crisis impels some households to relocate but traps others in places with restricted employment prospects. For some, the crisis of retrenchment triggers inter-state migration to take up new jobs. For others, it prompts relocation to less expensive housing, often in a geographically proximate location. These opposing responses, which are different outcomes of similar causal processes, exacerbate regional inequalities since they selectively encourage younger skilled workers to enter growing regions. The combination of high housing costs and insecure employment discourages speculative migration. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the policy implications of these findings. [source]

Demographic variation in housing cost adjustments with US family migration

POPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 4 2008
Suzanne Davies Withers
Abstract This paper examines the demographic variation in housing-cost adjustment associated with family migration in the United States. The American population continues to migrate away from very large metropolitan areas down the urban hierarchy towards smaller metropolitan and micropolitan areas, an exodus that is frequently attributed to the push effects of diseconomies and congestion, increasing presence of foreign-born population, and housing affordability problems, particularly in the large gateway cities. Yet, there is no empirical study of the housing-cost adjustments associated with migration. This study addresses this gap by empirically assessing whether migration is associated with housing affordability adjustments, whether migrating families increase or decrease their housing costs, whether demographic variations occur in these adjustments, and whether there are significant differences in the geographies of housing-cost adjustments among migrant families. These questions are addressed using the Census 2000 county-to-county migration flows merged with Census measures, and the 2000 Public Use Micro-Sample 5% National file. The results indicate significant changes in housing costs associated with migration, and interstate migration in particular. On average, the direction of migration is to more affordable places. Families migrating from the traditional gateway cities with a relatively high percentage of foreign-born populations are the most likely to make enormous shifts in affordability. However, these moves do not correspond neatly with regional white-flight theory. Hispanics are far more likely to decrease housing costs with migration, as are non-citizens and naturalised citizens. This research makes an important contribution to debates within the family migration literature, including conjectures of regional white flight and gendered theories of migration. Family migration towards greater housing affordability appears strategic and embedded in larger issues of family work,life balance. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Housing costs and the geography of family migration outcomes

The Use of Discretion in a Rule-Bound Service: Housing Benefit Administration and the Introduction of Discretionary Housing Payments in Great Britain

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2005
Bruce Walker
This paper is concerned with how administrators in the Housing Benefit (HB) service in Great Britain have reacted to the discretionary powers given to local authorities as a result of the introduction of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). DHPs can be awarded to HB claimants deemed to require additional assistance with their housing costs. The paper first argues that the HB service can be categorized as ,rule-bound' before outlining the DHP regime and the nature of the discretion that it affords HB administrators. A brief review of the literature on discretionary decision making in public service organizations suggests four propositions in respect of DHP decision making. The paper then seeks to test these propositions. It concludes that in general HB administrators do not appear to have experienced the difficulties associated with discretionary decision making in rule-bound services that might have been expected on the basis of previous work in this field. [source]

House Prices and Inflation

REAL ESTATE ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2002
Ali Anari
The present paper examines the long-run impact of inflation on homeowner equity by investigating the relationship between house prices and the prices of nonhousing goods and services, rather than return series and inflation rates as in previous empirical studies on the inflation hedging ability of real estate. There are two reasons for this methodological departure from prior practice: (1) while the total return on housing cannot be accurately measured, the total return on housing is fully reflected in housing prices, and (2) given that using returns or differencing a time series leads to a loss of long-run information contained in the series, valuable long-run information can be captured by using prices. Also, unlike previous related studies, we exclude housing costs from goods and services prices to avoid potential bias in estimating how inflation affects housing prices. Monthly data series are collected for existing and for new house prices as well as the consumer price index excluding housing costs for the period 1968,2000. Based on both autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models and recursive regressions, the empirical results yield estimated Fisher coefficients that are consistently greater than one over the sample period. Thus, we infer that house prices are a stable inflation hedge in the long run. [source]