The 196th Yuelu Economic and Trade Academic Forum
Title: Housing Wealth and Online Consumer Behavior
Presenter: Long Wang, School of Entrepreneurship and Management, ShanghaiTech University
Host: Hangtian Xu, School of Economics＆Trade, Hunan University
Time: May 20, 2021 (Thursday) 10: 00-11: 30 a.m.
Venue: Conference Room201,Economic and Trade Building
Sponsor: School of Economics＆Trade, Hunan University
Profile: Assistant Professorfrom School ofEntrepreneurship and Management, ShanghaiTech University. In 2018, he won a doctoral degree in real estate in NUS, research interest in urban economics, environmental economics and Chinaeconomy. His papers were published in Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Real Estate Economics and Journal of RealEstate Research.
Abstract: To establish the causal relationship between housing price appreciation and online consumer behavior, this study exploits a unique and comprehensive dataset assembled from October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018 by the largest e-commerce company in China. In order to overcome the empirical challenges faced by existing literature due to the non-random nature of housing price changes, this study investigates a unique institutional setting in China, namely the announcement of the newest national-level special economic zone, Xiong'an New Area, as an exogenous shock to the housing price. The study focuses on three areas of interest. First, we examine how exogenous and unanticipated wealth shocks impact households' online consumer behaviors. Second, we study the dynamic change of online consumer behaviors before and after the housing shock, and determine whether the behavioral responses persist in the long run. Third, we explore the underlying mechanisms through which the housing shock affects consumer behaviors. In particular, we attempt to disentangle the collateral effects from the housing wealth effects and rent effects.
