RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Homeowner Subsidy Repeal and Housing Recentralization
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 283
OP 301
DO 10.3368/le.081821-0095R
VO 99
IS 2
A1 Daminger, Alexander
A1 Dascher, Kristof
YR 2023
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/99/2/283.abstract
AB Subsidizing homeownership decentralizes cities, as Muth (1967) suggested over half a century ago. This article focuses on the related question of whether repealing a homeownership subsidy recentralizes cities. This question is relevant today, given the ubiquity of homeownership subsidies. We provide a first quasi-experimental test of a subsidy repeal’s spatial effects by examining Germany’s 2005 homeownership subsidy reform. We find that repealing the subsidy contributed to recentralizing Germany’s cities. Since recentralization helps abate carbon dioxide emissions, repealing a homeownership subsidy also helps mitigate climate change.