Review of Economic Studies · 2025 · [{"name": "А. И. Пархоменко", "affiliation": ["University of Southern California"]}]
中文摘要
摘要 为什么美国大城市的职业极化和收入不平等程度更高？我提出一个新的解释：当大城市房价增长更快时, 中等收入家庭越来越无力在当地拥有住房。他们迁往较小的城市, 大城市收入分布的中段随之空心化, 从而使这些城市更加极化、更不平等。我通过实证记录了两点：(1) 自1980年以来, 房价增长更快的城市经历了更大的极化和更明显的不平等上升; (2) 相比低收入或高收入家庭, 中等收入家庭更常因住房相关原因迁往房价更低的地区。借助一个包含产权选择 (自有与租赁) 与技能异质性的空间均衡模型, 我发现, 在1980年至2019年间, 大城市房价相对于收入和租金的超额增长, 几乎解释了大城市与小城市之间极化差距的全部, 以及不平等增长差距的近一半。
Abstract
Abstract Why are job polarization and income inequality higher in large U.S. cities? I offer a new explanation: when house prices grow faster in large cities, middle-income households increasingly cannot afford to own a house there. They move to smaller cities and the middle of the income distribution in large cities hollows out, making them more polarized and unequal. I document that (1) cities with higher price growth experienced larger polarization and increase in inequality since 1980 and (2) middle-income households migrate more often to cheaper locations for housing-related reasons than low- or high-income households. Using a spatial equilibrium model with tenure choice and skill heterogeneity, I find that excess growth of prices relative to incomes and rents in large cities accounts for nearly all of the gap in polarization and almost one-half of the gap in inequality growth between large and small cities from 1980 to 2019.