Speaker：Shihe Fu（Professor, Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University）
Description：This paper identifies the effect of international travel costs on local housing markets. The international travel cost is measured by whether an American city has launcheda nonstop flight to a Chinese city. Using difference-in-differences models, we find that after an American airport connected with China via a nonstop flight, the monthly number of Chinese homebuyers in a county nearby the airport increased by about one; local housing prices at the county level on average increased by $5900 (4%). We also find a significant decrease in the number of local non-Chinese homebuyers, suggesting a displacement effect in the local housing markets by out-of-town homebuyers. Our findings imply that the spatial equilibrium model based on inter-city migration within a country can be largely generalized to international migration. Our study also contributes to the literature on the economics of air travel and out-of-town homebuyers.
Time:November 30, 2018（Friday）, 15:30-17:00
Venue:Shahe Main teaching building, Room 303
