Three essays on housing: Housing rent and occupational rank in Beijing and Shenyang, China. Rent controls, housing subsidies and privatization: An international perspective. The urban housing reform in China

Gu, Yanxiang

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Description

Title

Three essays on housing: Housing rent and occupational rank in Beijing and Shenyang, China. Rent controls, housing subsidies and privatization: An international perspective. The urban housing reform in China

Author(s)

Gu, Yanxiang

Issue Date

1994

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Colwell, Peter F.

Department of Study

Finance

Discipline

Finance

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Economics, Finance

Language

eng

Abstract

• Chapter I. Housing rent and occupational rank in Bejjing and Shenyang, China. Under the planned economic system in China, the occupational rank of housing renters has a major effect on the household's rent. The government provides differential housing subsidies to different types of renters of state housing, and the higher the rank, the more the subsidy. However, other key factors such as living area, number of rooms in each housing unit, number of floors in the building, floor on which the unit is located and distance from city center influence rent in similar directions to those one would find in a market economy. Data has been collected from Beijing and Shenyang for cadre (white-collar government employee) housing with ranks of housing renters ranging from junior staff to minister or province governor. Multiple regression analysis is used to estimate a model which reveals the influence of housing attributes on urban housing rent, with special attention to the housing subsidies for the various ranks.
• Chapter II. Rent controls, housing subsidies and privatization: an international perspective. There have been rent controls and housing subsidies in a variety of both developed and developing countries since World War I. Strict rent controls in these market economies led to a decline in new housing construction, as well as a deterioration in existing rental housing units with low investment or disinvestment and poor services. To avoid these problems, some governments have replaced strict rent controls with moderate ones or decontrolled rents, improved the way in which they provide housing subsidies, and have been privatizing public housing. These experiences with rent control, decontrol, housing subsidy and privatization in those countries can provide points of reference to China and other ex-socialist countries pursuing housing reforms.
• Chapter III. The urban housing reform in China. Housing reform in China was initiated in the late 1970s. The goal of the reform is to substantially improve housing conditions for the people through the establishment of a housing rental and sales market. The major device for realizing the goal is to increase rent, raise wages and encourage employees to buy houses. Progress in the reform has been steady but success cannot be assured yet. The key issue, how to determine rent and price levels in different cities during and beyond the transition period, is studied in this paper. For more efficient allocation of housing and labor resources, we suggest: (1) a set of differential rents be used for housing with different accessibility and other characteristics; (2) a nationwide free housing market, and (3) a system of property rights secured by law.

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright 1994 Gu, Yanxiang

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