I think I'll keep renting

Tim Harford, in Slate:

English economist Andrew Oswald has shown that across European countries, and across U.S. states, high levels of home ownership are correlated with high levels of unemployment. More conventional factors such as generous welfare benefits or high levels of unionization don't explain unemployment nearly as well as the tendency to own houses. Renting your home and staying flexible do wonders for your chances of always finding an interesting job to do.

I haven't read the study, so I can't vouch for it.

Intuitively though, I buy it. Think about how many times you or someone you know didn't pursue a specific job or a different type of career because of home ownership. I can come up with quite a few just among kids my own age.

Of course, encouraging home ownership is one of the most prominent social engineering aspects of the federal tax code.

Posted by Evan @ 03/20/07 03:01 PM

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