Philipp M. Lersch

Place Stratification or Spatial Assimilation? Neighbourhood Quality Changes after Residential Mobility for Migrants in Germany

Neighbourhoods provide unequal resources and opportunities. Past research has shown that migrants are less able to move to more resourceful neighbourhoods. For Germany, cross-sectional evidence shows that migrants live in worse neighbourhoods on average, but no longitudinal analysis of changes in neighbourhood quality after residential mobility has been conducted. The present paper closes this gap and tests the place stratification model and the spatial assimilation model. Data from the German Socio-economic Panel and the MICROM dataset are used for the years 2000–09. The data are analysed using fixed-effects panel regression. The analysis shows that Turkish households are less able to improve their neighbourhood quality through moves compared with German households, while households with other ethnic backgrounds do not differ significantly from the native population.

Employment insecurity and first-time homeownership: evidence from twenty-two European countries

Many young people in Europe face employment insecurity, a condition which will likely persist following the global economic downturn that started with the financial crisis of 2007–08. Previous research has shown that employment insecurity impedes the entry into homeownership. It is, however, less clear how this delayed entry into homeownership is filtered by contextual arrangements at the country level. Using longitudinal data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (2007–11), we confirm prior findings on the negative effect of employment insecurity across European countries. We also find contextual variations. In more marketised housing provision systems in Northern and Western Europe, where mortgages are readily available to those in secure employment, the negative effect of employment insecurity (relative to having secure employment) on the transition into homeownership is accentuated. In more familialistic systems with strongly regulated labour markets in Southern Europe, the difference between young people in different employment situations is smaller, yet still significant. We find similar-sized differences between those in insecure and secure employment in the Baltic States, but not in the other Eastern and Central European countries, where housing shortages impede the entry into homeownership for young people across different employment positions.

The distribution of housing wealth in 16 European countries : Accounting for institutional differences

Housing wealth is the largest source of household wealth, but we know little about the distribution of housing wealth and how institutions have shaped this distribution. Subsidies for homeownership, privatisation of social housing and mortgage finance liberalisation are likely to have influenced the distribution of housing wealth in recent decades. To examine their impact, we describe housing wealth inequalities across occupational classes for two birth cohorts aged fifty and older. The analysis is conducted across 16 European countries with divergent welfare states and housing systems using the fourth wave of the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe (SHARE; 2011/2012). Our results indicate that the expansion of homeownership in a market-based housing system is associated with a more unequal distribution of housing wealth across occupational classes, as an increasing number of ‘marginal’ owners are drawn into precarious homeownership. Such a pattern is not found in housing wealth accumulation regimes with a less market-based provision of housing. When the state or the family drive homeownership expansion, a de-coupling of labour market income and housing consumption results in a more equal distribution of housing wealth.

The Marriage Wealth Premium Revisited: Gender Disparities and Within-Individual Changes in Personal Wealth in Germany

This study examines the association between marriage and economic wealth of women and men. Going beyond previous research that focused on household wealth, I examine personal wealth, which allows identifying gender disparities in the association between marriage and wealth. Using unique data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002, 2007, and 2012), I apply random-effects and fixed-effects regression models to test my expectations. I find that both women and men experience substantial marriage wealth premiums not only in household wealth but also in personal wealth. However, I do not find consistent evidence for gender disparities in these general marriage premiums. Additional analyses indicate, however, that women’s marriage premiums are substantially lower than men’s premiums in older cohorts and when only nonhousing wealth is considered. Overall, this study provides new evidence that women and men gain unequally in their wealth attainment through marriage.

Coresidential Union Entry and Changes in Commuting Times of Women and Men

Women, particularly those in coresidential unions, have previously been found to spend less time commuting to work than men. This gender gap among couples’ commuting has been linked to inferior labor market opportunities for women. How gender differences in commuting emerge on entering coresidence is underresearched, however. This study examines changes in commuting times at the transition from singlehood to coresidential unions using the British Household Panel Survey (1992-2008; N = 8,122 individuals). Results from fixed effects regression indicate that men increase their commuting time when entering coresidential unions. For childless women, entering coresidential unions is not associated with changes in commuting time. Mothers reduce their commuting time on entering coresidential unions. Changes in labor income and domestic housework responsibilities, previously suggested as likely explanations, are not found to contribute to observed changes in commuting among those entering coresidential unions in this study.

Long-term Health Consequences of Adverse Labor Market Conditions at Time of Leaving Education: Evidence from West German Panel Data

Using longitudinal survey data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study (N = 3,003 respondents with 22,165 individual-year observations) and exploiting temporal and regional variation in state-level unemployment rates in West Germany, we explore differences in trajectories of individuals’ self-rated health over a period of up to 23 years after leaving education under different regional labor market conditions. We find evidence for immediate positive effects of contextual unemployment when leaving education on individuals’ health. We find no evidence for generally accelerated or decelerated health deterioration when leaving education in high-unemployment contexts. We find, however, that individual unemployment experience when leaving education is associated with worse health and with more accelerated health deterioration in high-unemployment contexts. The cumulative experience of unemployment after leaving education does not mediate the influence of early labor market experiences for long-term health outcomes. In addition, our analyses indicate no gender differences in these results.

Homeownership, Saving and Financial Wealth: A Comparative and Longitudinal Analysis

Abstract The finding that homeowners own more non-housing wealth than tenants is well known. We examine whether the higher financial wealth of owners can be partly explained with increases in saving when becoming a homeowner in two distinct institutional contexts. Using longitudinal data for the UK (British Household Panel Survey) and Germany (Socio-Economic Panel Study), we find that homeowners save more and are financially wealthier than tenants. However, when controlling for time-constant selection into homeownership, upon entering homeownership households reduce their probability to save in Germany and reduce their average saving rate in Germany and the UK. For Germany, there is some evidence that processes of homemaking (family formation and home improvement) lead to less saving. For the UK, we find no evidence that increasing home equity over time discourages saving. Finally, tenants do not compensate for their lack of housing wealth by accumulating more non-housing wealth over time. This disadvantage for tenants seems more pronounced in the UK compared to Germany.

The shadow of future homeownership: the association of wanting to move into homeownership with labour supply

Previous research has shown that labour supply – especially of partnered women with supplemental incomes – is positively associated with homeownership status. This literature is advanced by testing whether wanting to move into homeownership before the actual entry into homeownership affects individuals’ labour supply in couples. The empirical analysis is based on longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2008). Fixed-effects panel regression models are used to predict the labour supply of women and men separately. Labour supply changes associated with homeownership are found to mainly occur when individuals want to move into homeownership and prior to the actual entry into homeownership. When wanting to move into homeownership, women and men increase their labour supply, where women are more likely to take up work and men to increase work hours. For women, the association between wanting to move into homeownership and labour supply is moderated by regional house price changes.

Geburten und die Wohnraumversorgung von Familien: Anpassungen der Wohnung im zeitlichen Verlauf / Childbirth and Room Stress among Families: Housing Adjustments over Time

Zusammenfassung Geburten erhöhen den Raumbedarf von Familien und können zu einer Verschlechterung der Wohnsituation von Familien führen, wenn diese ihren Wohnraum nicht ausreichend vergrößern können. Es wird untersucht, wann und wie Familien ihren Wohnraum im Zeitverlauf anpassen und welche Folgen dies für die Wohnraumversorgung, d. h. die gewichtete Zahl der Wohnräume pro Kopf hat. Es werden Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (1984-2011) mit Hilfe von Panelregressionsmodellen untersucht. Familien mit geringen ökonomischen Ressourcen erhöhen ihren Wohnraum synchron zur Geburt leicht, können ihren gestiegenen Raumbedarf im Durchschnitt aber nicht ausgleichen. Familien mit größeren ökonomischen Ressourcen verbessern ihre Wohnraumversorgung bereits frühzeitig vor einer Geburt und können den erhöhten Raumbedarf mittelfristig ausgleichen. Bei nachfolgenden Geburten sind insgesamt weniger Anpassungen als bei ersten Geburten zu beobachten. Summary The birth of a child increases the room needs of families and potentially increases room stress if families are not able to increase their housing space accordingly. In this study, the timing and magnitude of housing size adjustments are examined. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2011) are analyzed using panel regression models. Results show that families with low economic resources only slightly increase their residential space due to childbirths, which, on average, results in sharp increases in room stress. Families with ample economic resources increase their housing space in anticipation of childbirths. A few years after the event, however, room stress is similar to the pre-event level for these families. Second births are less often associated with housing adjustments.

Theorising Residential Relocations and Their Outcomes

When relocating, individuals shift the centre of their action spaces to a new residential location for a considerable duration of time (Boyle, Halfacree and Robinson 1998: 34). Primarily, this raises two questions. Why do individuals relocate? What are the outcomes of these relocations? Outcomes of relocations are changes in the quality of the present compared to the last residential location. I define the quality of a location as the degree to which the location improves the chances for an individual to achieve physical wellbeing and social approval. Individuals living in low-quality locations will fare worse regarding these goals compared to individuals in high-quality locations on average, because they live in too small and unhealthy dwellings, in unsafe and polluted neighbourhoods and in economically stagnating regions. The quality of a location depends on its features. I use ‘features’ to refer to objectively observable characteristics of a location, e.g. the density of buildings in a neighbourhood. Features and quality of a location are closely associated and some features will result in better quality than others.