Conference Agenda

Family ties and kinship networks play an important role in sharing risk under insufficient social security. In this paper, we use panel data based on a massive household survey in China to examine the heterogeneous risk-sharing networks and their impacts on household finance. Based on a staggered difference-in-difference design, we find that households under negative shocks obtain a larger extent of social capital from extended family members with blood ties and geo-proximities, similar income positions, and lower uncertainty exposures. The vehicles of risk-sharing differ across networks, and direct monetary transfers over quasi-credits are facilitated by altruism and social norms, which substitute household borrowing from financial institutions. Risk-sharing networks have wide welfare implications from short-term and long-term perspectives. They help cushion instantaneous consumption drops and accelerate consumption recovery upon unanticipated negative shocks. However, over-reliance on risk-sharing networks reduces household willingness to engage in life-cycle financial planning and dampens long-term consumption, asset allocation, and financial performance. Such negative long-term effects could be corrected by adequate provision of government subsidies and financial literacy programs.

This paper investigates the value of access to alcohol consumption by examining housing price changes after a liquor ban that was catalyzed by an unexpected riot in Singapore. The ban restricts alcohol consumption in Liquor Control Zones to a different extent than in areas outside such zones. Using properties 800 meters to two kilometers from the Liquor Control Zones as the reference group, we find that housing prices increased for houses within 800 meters of the Liquor Control Zones, but the change diminishes for houses in closed communities, which are less susceptible to the risk of social disorder caused by liquor consumption. In contrast, the housing price changes in the Liquor Control Zones are weak, which implies that the recreational role of alcohol consumption dominates other negative effects and substantially offsets the benefit of the declining risk of social disorder. Several alternative explanations are ruled out. The evidence suggests that the net effect of alcohol consumption is small but that the risk of social disorder has a substantial effect on housing prices.

Unexpected fortune makes people feel wealthier. In this paper, we estimate the effects of housing wealth on online consumption. Using the announcement of the “Northern Metropolis development strategy” on October 6th, 2021 as an exogenous shock, we find that the average housing price in the Northern Metropolis area increased by 20.50 percentage points more than that in the Non-Northern Metropolis areas after the policy. This increased housing wealth within the Northern Metropolis area is associated with a surge in online consumption. Specifically, the total amount of online orders placed by buyers residing within the Northern Metropolis area increased by 4.96 percentage points more than that for buyers in the Non-Northern Metropolis areas after the policy. Renters, however, do not reap the benefits of the policy. These findings add to the literature on consumers’ responses when facing unexpected wealth and shed light on the effectiveness of place-based policies.

Inadequate housing is not an urban challenge unique to the developing countries. Even though Hong Kong has had a massive-scale public rental housing programme since the post-war era, Inadequate housing, exemplified in various forms, has never been eliminated. Sub-divided units (SDUs) represent the most contemporary version of adequate housing in the city. Since the early 2010s, the problem of SDUs in Hong Kong became apparent and started attracting wide public attention. The Hong Kong government has announced to take bold and determined steps to crack down on the SDU problem in the city. Yet, the estimated number of SDUs in Hong Kong increased from 67,000 in 2013 to 107,000 in 2021.

Different transient affordable housing schemes (e.g. transitional housing and light public housing) have been practiced or advocated to resettle those residents living in SDUs. Nonetheless, not all these initiatives are successful, particularly in terms of the occupancy rate. This paper aims to offer a systematic analysis of the factors coming into the decision calculus of the SDU residents about relocation to a transient affordable housing unit. Multiple methods were adopted in the research. First, the results of different surveys conducted by the government bodies, think-tanks and non-governmental organizations were analysed. The analysis offered the researcher insights into the possible factors that affected the decision-making in transient home relocation of the inadequate housing residents. Second, a structured survey was conducted on a sample of SDU residents to explore the relative importance of those identified factors to the decision-making exercise. The sets of factor weightings for residents with different characteristics (e.g. employment status and presence of school-age children) were compared. Drawing upon the findings of the study, recommendations to rationalize Hong Kong’s transient affordable housing schemes are made.