Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation

58 Pages Posted: 11 May 2015 Last revised: 20 Apr 2024

See all articles by Chang-Tai Hsieh

Chang-Tai Hsieh

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Enrico Moretti

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Date Written: May 2015

Abstract

We quantify the amount of spatial misallocation of labor across US cities and its aggregate costs. Misallocation arises because high productivity cities like New York and the San Francisco Bay Area have adopted stringent restrictions to new housing supply, effectively limiting the number of workers who have access to such high productivity. Using a spatial equilibrium model and data from 220 metropolitan areas we find that these constraints lowered aggregate US growth by more than 50% from 1964 to 2009.

Suggested Citation

Hsieh, Chang-Tai and Moretti, Enrico, Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation (May 2015). NBER Working Paper No. w21154, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2604835

Chang-Tai Hsieh (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

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University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

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Enrico Moretti

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

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Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
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HOME PAGE: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/~moretti/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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