Please join our virtual Departmental Seminar series and welcome
Dr. Amanda Ross
Associate Professor of Economics
Culverhouse College of Business
University of Alabama
Dr. Ross will give a seminar entitled
"Housing Wealth Shocks, Home Equity Withdrawal, and the Claiming
of Social Security Retirement Benefits"
on Friday, October 9, 2020 by ZOOM at 12 Noon CST.
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of changes in house prices on when eligible individuals start receiving Social Security benefits. If house prices increase, financially constrained households may draw upon the additional home equity to finance expenses and delay receipt of Social Security in order to have increased lifetime monthly benefits. To address concerns that house price changes are correlated with unobserved local demand shocks, we use a control function approach and employ two different instrumental variables. We find that individuals delay Social Security claiming when house prices increase during the housing boom. The probability of claiming within two years after becoming eligible decreases by 8.67-8.81 percent for every 10 percent increase in house prices. We also find that the total home loan amount increases in response to the price appreciation, indicating households are drawing upon their home equity to finance consumption and delay receiving Social Security.
ZOOM Link: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/86894888284?pwd=Ym8zRnEwbWw0RTM1b0lCU2Z0bWZtdz09
Meeting ID: 868 9488 8284
Password: 050460
