title: Local house prices and mental health.
abstract: This paper examines the impact of local (county-level) house prices on individual self-reported mental health using individual level data from the United States Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System between 2005 and 2011. Exploiting a fixed-effects model that relies on within-county variations, relative to the corresponding changes in other counties, I find that while individuals are likely to experience worse self-reported mental health when local house prices decline, this association is most pronounced for individuals who are least likely to be homeowners. This finding is not consistent with a prediction from a pure wealth mechanism but rather with the hypothesis that house prices act as an economic barometer. I also demonstrate that the association between self-reported mental health and local house prices is not driven by unemployment or foreclosure. The primary result-that lower local house prices have adverse impact on self-reported mental health of homeowners and renters-is consistent with studies using data from the United Kingdom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Wayne State University, 656 W Kirby St. 2074 FAB, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA. nayankrishnajoshi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nayan Krishna
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Joshi
mesh_terms: D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D003132:Commerce; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D057566:Self Report; D014478:Unemployment; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Fixed effects model; House prices; Mental health; Wealth