How Do Housing Prices Affect Residents' Health? New Evidence From China

This paper aims to explore the effect and mechanism of rising housing prices on residents' physical and mental health. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies from 2014 to 2018, we investigate the impact and mechanism of rising housing prices on the mental and physical health of urban residents through multiple grouping regression and analysis of variance. The study finds that overall, rising housing prices have a positive effect on residents' mental health but a negative effect on physical health, and those who do not own a house show the greatest adverse effect. The impact of rising housing prices on health is mainly reflected in three aspects: the wealth effect, cost effect, and comprehensive environmental expectation effect. Of these, the wealth effect and comprehensive environmental expectation effect play a role in promoting residents' health, whereas the cost effect has a strong inhibitory effect. This paper also analyzes how house prices impact health and finds that having health insurance reduces residents' active health behavior, thus affecting their physical and mental health levels, which has a positive effect on uninsured residents.

THE WEALTH EFFECT IN AGRICULTURE IN LIGHT OF EXPERIENCES OF FARMS FROM THE WIELKOPOLSKA REGION

The aim of the article is to initially identify the characteristics of farms in which the wealth effect appears and recognize the extent of this effect in market farms in the Wielkopolska Region. This was realized based on the results of 120 questionnaire surveys of farms in the Wielkopolska Region. The research shows that there is a group of farms in which the wealth effect takes place (9.2% in the surveyed group). This mainly applies to units specializing in field crops. Farms in which the potential wealth effect appears are characterized by a larger area of arable land but, on the other hand, by a lower income, value of assets and output. In addition to the risks associated with this effect, there are also positive aspects relating to an increased economic activity of farms or an increase in the possibility of credit guarantees. In the context of research results, it would be advisable, in the future, to increase the degressivity of area payments under the CAP due to their lower impact of payments on the capitalization of subsidies and, thus, the intrinsic increase in asset value in farms.

The Wealth Effect of Corporate Water Actions: How Past Corporate Responsibility and Irresponsibility Influence Stock Market Reactions

Ensuring access to clean water is one of the most important development and health challenges of the twenty-first century. Given the manifold impacts of business activities on water resources, corporate water actions should be of central concern to business ethics researchers. Yet so far we know too little about whether business activities that impact on water resources are noticed or how corporate water actions are valued by a firm’s stakeholders, including by financial markets. In response, we conduct an event study to investigate the shareholder wealth effect of reports of corporate water actions. We explore stock market reactions to water actions by S&P 500 firms from 2005 to 2017, showing that the market reacts positively to reports of responsible water actions and negatively to irresponsible actions. We further explain that these abnormal returns to water actions are associated with a firm’s past performance on ethical issues, arguing that the reputational effects from prior corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility influence market reactions. Our analysis provides evidence that there are diminishing marginal returns to responsible water actions for firms with records of past responsibility and an offsetting effect for those with past irresponsibility. Similarly, we demonstrate an insurance effect that limits punishment for irresponsible water actions for firms with responsible performance records and diminishing negative marginal returns for those already seen to be irresponsible. This study is the first to show that shareholders recognize market value in corporate water actions and are prepared to award or punish firms in stock markets based on their impacts on water.

The Impact of Rising Housing Rent on Residents’ Consumption and Its Underlying Mechanism: Empirical Evidence from China

Based on 465 panel data from 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China from 2001 to 2015 (data come from “China Statistical Yearbook”), static and dynamic panel models were established by Stata16.0 software to analyze the impact of housing rent on household consumption. In order to explore the specific impact of rising housing rents on residents’ consumption, and then adjust housing policies to stimulate consumer demand, this article analyses three research topics: (a) the impact of rising housing rent on the overall consumption level of residents and whether there are regional differences; (b) the internal mechanism underlying the effect of rising housing rent on residents’ consumption; and (c) the different impacts of rising housing rent on different types of residents’ consumption by establishing fixed-effects and random-effects models. The results show that a rise in housing rent causes a wealth effect on residents’ consumption at the national level in all regions. The upgrading of the industrial structure plays a positive role in the relationship between the fluctuation in housing rent and residents’ consumption, that is, the more rational the industrial structure, the stronger the wealth effect of rising housing rent on residents’ consumption. The rise in housing rent positively affects residents’ daily necessities and services consumption; transportation and telecommunication consumption; education, culture, and entertainment consumption; and habitation consumption; while negatively affects food, tobacco, and alcohol consumption; clothing consumption; and other supplies and services consumption. However, the impact on health care consumption is not significant. Accordingly, the government should start by improving the housing rental market and reasonably promote the further development of the housing rental market, thereby further stimulating Chinese consumption level.

Research on Real Estate Wealth Effect under the Background of Double Cycle Based on VAR Model

In order to cope with the complex and severe development situation at home and abroad, in May 2020, the Party Central Committee proposed to accelerate the formation of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the mutual promotion of the domestic and international double cycles. Among them, the consumption of Chinese residents is a “double cycle” key part of strategy. From the perspective of consumption structure and property structure, real estate is an important part of household property and an important consumer object in China and it has a decisive influence on the effect of internal circulation. By constructing a real estate wealth effect model, this paper adopted the impulse response function method based on the VAR model, studies the changes in real estate prices, residents’ incomes, and residents’ consumption. The results show that the three interact with each other. In the long run, real estate has a positive wealth effect, but in the short term, there is a negative wealth effect, and consumers’ expectations of future housing prices will affect current consumption changes. In order to promote the domestic cycle, the author proposes to develop and improve the primary and secondary housing markets to ensure the liquidity of real estate, thereby stimulating consumption; guide residents to form healthy real estate price expectations, prevent large fluctuations in housing prices, and strictly stabilize consumption; the policy positioning of “no speculation” reduces the crowding-out effect of investment and speculative house purchases on residents’ daily consumption, thereby increasing consumption.