Working Paper: NBER ID: w28483
Authors: Christopher T. Stanton; Pratyush Tiwari
Abstract: This paper estimates housing choice differences between households with and without remote workers. Prior to the pandemic, the expenditure share on housing was more than seven percent higher for remote households compared to similar non-remote households in the same commuting zone. Remote households’ higher housing expenditures arise from larger dwellings (more rooms) and a higher price per room. Pre-COVID, households with remote workers were actually located in areas with above-average housing costs, and sorting within-commuting zone to suburban or rural areas was not economically meaningful. Using the pre-COVID distribution of locations, we estimate how much additional pre-tax income would be necessary to compensate non-remote households for extra housing expenses arising from remote work in the absence of geographic mobility, and we compare this compensation to commercial office rents in major metro areas.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J32; J81; J82; R21; R3; R40
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| remote households (R21) | housing consumption (R21) |
| remote work (J62) | housing consumption (R21) |
| remote households (R21) | dwelling size (R21) |
| dwelling size (R21) | housing consumption (R21) |
| remote households (R21) | price per room (R31) |
| price per room (R31) | housing consumption (R21) |
| remote households (R21) | sorting within commuting zones (R23) |
| sorting within commuting zones (R23) | housing consumption (R21) |
| additional space needed for remote work (J29) | housing consumption (R21) |
| non-remote households (R20) | earnings premium (J31) |