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The 2007–2009 financial crisis initially appeared to have destroyed a huge amount of wealth in the United States. Housing prices dropped about 21% across the country and as much as 50% in some places, and the stock market dropped by nearly 50% as well. This chapter examines how the financial crisis differentially affected households at different parts of the income and wealth distributions. Our results show that all households lost about the same percentage of their wealth in that period. But because households in the top 10% of the wealth distribution owned many different kinds of assets, their wealth soon recovered. The bottom 80% of the wealth distribution had more of their wealth tied up in housing. We show that financial distress, indexed by foreclosures, being behind in mortgage payments, and changes in house prices were particularly concentrated in households in the bottom 80% of the wealth distribution. These households lost a large part of their wealth and have not yet recovered. Households that were most deeply affected were those who entered the housing market late and took out subprime loans. African American and Hispanic households were particularly susceptible as they bought houses late in the price bubble often with subprime loans.

This paper aims to develop and estimate a logit model of whether homeownership could be promoted by participation in and use of the Housing Provident Fund (HPF) program, with a focus on factors that influence the use of HPF loans.

This paper develops and estimates a logit model of whether homeownership could be promoted by participation in and use of the HPF program, with a focus on factors that influence the use of HPF loans.

The results show that coefficients of marital status, educational level, age, duration of employment and employer are significantly related to the use of HPF loan for homeownership.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability.

The research findings provide a better understanding of homeowners’ characteristics.

To manage the HPF program effectively, it is important for government to have a better understanding of the underlying demand for homeownership, especially with respect to the different demographic variables and accessibility to HPF loans and the HPF.

Purchasing a home is the largest expenditure many people will make during their lifetime, as well as their greatest source of wealth. There is a homeownership gap between natives and immigrants well documented in the literature. I examine the determinants of homeownership, the value of purchased homes (a measure of potential housing wealth), and the equity owned for those who have purchased a home (a measure of actual housing wealth) for immigrants and natives. When immigrants are separated by citizenship status the homeownership gap between natives and immigrants is shown to be a gap between natives and non-citizen immigrants. Immigrant citizens have ownership outcomes as good or better than natives. Further, the gap reflects a problem in ownership, brought about by age and income distributional differences, not in value or equity for homeowners. All immigrants are predicted to have higher home value and home equity than natives.

Drawing on the literature regarding gender, marital status and homeownership, this paper aims to examine the role of gender and marital status played in homeownership in urban China. This paper also attempted to shed light on other determinants of homeownership as well as heterogeneity in the factors related to homeownership between never married women and never married men.

This study uses data from the 2010 to 2015 China General Social Survey to investigate factors related to homeownership among urban Chinese households and focuses on the role of gender and marital status in particular. Multivariate analyses were applied to the full sample, never married sample, never married women sample and never married men sample respectively.

Findings from this study on the full sample showed that never married individuals were less likely to be the homeowners compared to the married couples. The probability of homeownership of never married women was lower compared to the never married men cohort. Different personal characteristics contributed to homeownership between never married women and never married men cohort.

The empirical model in this study did not provide direct evidence that never married individuals were more likely to be homeowners as reflected in the recent mass media news. Further study could conduct a survey designed specifically for this group.

This study adds to current literature with further understanding of factors related to homeownership among Chinese households in general as well as in never married women and never married men subsamples.

This study aims to examine living preference and tenure among millennials, with a particular focus on the impact of ethnic and cultural diversity on housing outcomes including observed homeownership inequalities.

Using the individual panel data from three waves in American Housing Survey, 2015–2019, this study compares the likelihood of co-residing among Asian and Hispanic millennials with non-Hispanic white millennial peers. Furthermore, this study estimates the effect of co-residence on homeownership across generational and ethnic backgrounds.

This study finds a preference for coresident adult familial households among foreign-born Asian and Hispanic millennials, and US-born Hispanic millennials when compared to their non-Hispanic white millennial peers. The results are robust after considering neighborhood selection bias, affordability and education. The effect of co-residence on ownership is significant and positive, suggesting this living arrangement contributes to homeownership across all generational and ethnic groups.

Housebuilders should be aware of Asian and Hispanic millennials’ increased appetite for extended family living arrangements and consider increasing the physical size of affordable or workforce-oriented rental housing and new single family construction to accommodate more adult co-living arrangements.

This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the role ethnic and cultural diversity has on millennial adult living preferences and its generational differences, which is not just “boomeranging” as identified by previous literature, contributing to the growing interest in the housing research on the effect of ethnic diversity and culture on millennials’ homeownership rates.

This study aims to examine the housing outcomes of natives and multiple generations of non-natives using a longitudinal survey data in Britain.

The authors use longitudinal data from Britain, in which they can observe multiple generations of immigrants and their demographic and economic information.

The probability models for housing tenure reveal significant variation in the outcomes which are robust to several econometric specifications.

As migration and its impact on local economy is a highly debated topic across several major regions of the world, the findings bring out important insights with policy implications. The research is limited by the sample size of the longitudinal survey.

The empirical evidence on the topic is quite limited with mixed findings. Especially, the authors’ ability to look through multiple generations is unique in identifying the variation in housing outcomes for the native and non-native citizens.

Using the Canadian Census of 2016, the present study examines the Black and White gap in compensating differentials for their commute to work.

The data are from the Canadian Census of 2016. The standard Mincerian wage regression, augmented by commute-related variables and their confounders, is estimated by OLS. The estimations use sample weights and heteroscedasticity robust standard errors.

In the standard Mincerian wage regressions, Black men are found to earn non-negligibly less than White men. No such gap is found among women. When the Mincerian wage equation is augmented by commute duration and its confounders, commute duration is revealed to positively predict wages of White men and negatively associate with wages of Black men. At the same time, in the specifications including commute duration and its confounders, the coefficient for the dummy variable identifying Black men is positive with a non-negligible size. The latter pattern indicates wage discrepancies among Black men by their commute duration. Again, no difference is found between Black and White women in these estimations.

The main caveat is that due to data limitations, causal estimates could not be produced.

For the Canadian working men, the uncovered patterns indicate both between and within race gaps in the impact of commuting on wages. Particularly, Black men seem to commute longer towards relatively lower paying jobs, while the opposite holds for their White counterparts. However, Black men who reside close to their work earn substantially more than both otherwise identical White men and Black men who live far away from their jobs. The implications for research and policy are discussed.

This is the first paper focused on commute compensating differentials by race using Canadian data.

In recent decades, research on consumer debt and well-being is emerging. However, research on the potential effect of debt portfolios on family financial well-being is limited. The purpose of this study is to fill this research gap by examining the potential effect of debt portfolios on family financial well-being, measured by three indicators of progressive financial burdens. These indicators include debt pressure (debt payment to income ratio >40%), debt delinquency (60+ days late for debt payments) and insolvency (total liability > total asset). Debt portfolios refer to various combinations of mortgage, credit card, vehicle, education and other loans.

With data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances in the USA, multivariate logistic regressions are used to identify specific debt types, consumer backgrounds and financial capability factors that are significantly associated with debt burden indicators. The findings are used to create a table demonstrating warning debt portfolios that may lead to undesirable financial outcomes.

Holdings of different types of debts are associated with different financial burdens. Specifically, holdings of three types of debts (mortgage, vehicle and other debts) tend to increase debt pressure; holdings of two types of debts (education and other debts) tend to increase debt delinquency; and holdings of four types of debts (mortgage, credit card, education and other debts) tend to increase insolvency. These results are used to construct warning debt portfolios that show greater chances of undesirable financial outcomes. Among them, the top warning portfolio for debt pressure is the combined holding of mortgage-vehicle-other debts; for debt delinquency is the holding of education-other debts; and for insolvency is the holding of mortgage-credit card-education-other debts.

This study is limited by using only cross-sectional survey data to examine associations between debt portfolios and financial burdens. To examine the causality of debt portfolios on financial burdens, appropriate panel data are necessary, which is a direction for future research. In addition, this study used data from only one developed country. In future research, data from more countries, including both developed and developing countries, should be analyzed to verify if similar relationships exist among families in other countries.

Results of this study have implications for practitioners in banking and other financial institutions. The study presents a comprehensive list of debt portfolios in the order from high risk to low risk in terms of financial burdens. Banking and other financial service professionals can use the information to help their clients make informed borrowing decisions, predict their debt burdens and offer early preventions based on their clients' debt portfolios. Marketing strategists can use the information for effective segmentation and promotion purposes.

This study utilizes a new concept, debt portfolios and examines its associations with family financial burdens. Financial burdens include three indicators that are seldom used together in previous research. These indicators conceptually indicate various severity levels of debt burdens. This study also presents a conceptual discussion on the association between debt portfolios and financial burdens and provides a better understanding of consumer debt behavior and its consequences. The warning debt portfolios constructed based on the findings have direct managerial implications for banking and other financial service professionals.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound economic effects, putting women entrepreneurs at considerable risk of losing income and sales growth as a result. This study aims to examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic is a blessing or a curse for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan’s informal sector. The influence of business type, family support and other socio-economic factors on the sales volume of women’s businesses is examined.

Data were collected from 400 women entrepreneurs using a survey questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to investigate the relationships between perceived sales volume and socio-economic as well as demographic factors of women entrepreneurs.

Findings for RQ1 revealed that the pandemic was a blessing for cloth and cosmetic entrepreneurs, but a curse for those women selling dairy products. Results for RQ2 showed that age, homeownership, household size, family support and type of business were significant predictors of sales. Furthermore, women entrepreneurs were greatly influenced by their family’s desires and decisions, such that women entrepreneurs who received support from families and relatives reported higher sales than those who did not receive such support.

The results may assist policymakers in designing supportive programs to encourage women’s informal entrepreneurial activities. Creating entrepreneurial ecosystems may provide support for women entrepreneurs beyond family support. The findings provide a better understanding of women’s business effectiveness during COVID-19 pandemic. It reveals the resilience of women entrepreneurs in the face of cultural, economic and institutional constraints encountered during the pandemic.

This study is unique because it focuses on the impact of the pandemic at the household level rather than examining broad macroeconomic scenarios. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to explore the informal, home-based business sector of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan during the pandemic.

The purpose of this study was to examine family structure differences in debt types and burdens of American families.

Data was from the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances. Eight types of family structures, five specific debts, and two debt burden indicators are examined with multivariate logistic regressions.

After controlling for several socioeconomic variables, multivariate logistic regression results show that married with children families are more likely than five other family types to have any debt. In terms of specific debt, married with children families are more likely than six other types of families to have mortgages, four other types to have credit card loans, five other types to have to vehicle loans, three other types to have education loans, and one other type to have purchase loans. Married with children families are more likely than three other types of families (childless married couples, single males, and single females) to be late in debt payment for 60 or more days.

The data is limited to one-year cross-sectional data. To gain more insights on this topic, panel data could be used.

The findings can be used for financial service professionals to identify loan demand and risk associated with various family structures and develop effective marketing strategies to serve these clients.

The findings are informative for public policymakers to develop family friendly economic policies and for consumer educators who help consumers make effective financial decisions when borrowing various types of loans.

First, this study uses an innovative definition of family structure that counts several nontraditional family structures. Second, this study examines family structure differences in holdings of five specific debts together.