Housing Wealth as Precautionary Saving: Evidence from Urban China
利用中国家庭面板数据，发现住房财富每增加1%，消费增加0.14%，且收入不确定性高的员工消费倾向更大，表明预防性储蓄动机驱动了住房财富效应。
Abstract This article provides new evidence on the housing-wealth effect on consumption using household panel data. A key advantage in studying the Chinese housing market is the absence of the collateral channel because households are prohibited from withdrawing housing equity. The results show that for every 1% increase in housing wealth, household consumption increases by 0.14%, suggesting an implied marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth of 0.023. Further, we find that this marginal propensity to consume is the largest among employees who face greater income uncertainty, suggesting that precautionary-saving motives are driving the results.