No Less Than My Neighbor’s House Price: Reference Prices During Homeownership
Prof. Jaimie LIEN
Distinguished Professor,
Co-Director for the Center for Research on Experimental and
Theoretical Economics (CREATE)
Shandong University
Date: 16 December 2024 (Monday)
Time: 16:00 – 17:00
Venue: E22-G015
Host: Prof. Degui LI, Distinguished Professor in Business Economics
Abstract
Prior studies on reference-dependence in the housing market have not considered transactions of neighboring properties as a potential reference point. We analyze administrative housing transactions data and show that both the seller’s original purchase price and the recent neighborhood selling prices are empirically valid reference points, controlling for market conditions. However, as the number of holding years of a property unit increases, the influence of the original purchase price as a reference point wanes, while the recent neighborhood transaction price becomes more influential. Thus, for longer holding periods, similar neighboring properties are better predictors of pricing under reference-dependence.
Speaker
Jaimie Lien is University Distinguished Professor at Shandong University, and she serves as the Co-Director for the Center for Research on Experimental and Theoretical Economics (CREATE). Dr. Lien received her B.A in Economics and Mathematics from Wellesley College, M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from UCSD. She is an Associate Editor for North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Scientific Reports and International Journal of Finance and Economics.
Her main research fields are behavioral economics, experimental economics and applied microeconomics. She has published about 30 research papers in journals including Nature Communications, PNAS, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), Economic Journal, Games and Economic Behavior, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and Economic Inquiry.
All are welcome!