Project Ph.D Student Request
Title: Exploring the Links between Housing and Well-being
The University of Warwick Doctoral Training Centre was established in 2011 following the
decision by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to recognise the University
of Warwick as one of 21 new Doctoral Training Centres in the United Kingdom.
The DTC has 19 approved pathways thirteen of which are based in single
departments/academic disciplines, while the other six are built around inter-disciplinary
themes and involve more than one department or research centre.
Training within the DTC is offered at both core and advanced levels, by departments, the
DTC, and the University Research Students Skills Programme (RSSP). Specific training
required by students will be advised by departments and supervisors based in part on input
from students, through an individual Training Needs Analysis which is produced by the
department at the outset of the PhD Studentship and reviewed periodically thereafter.
The programme for PhD students consists of Core Training, subject specific training
provided at the departmental level and training designed to meet the ESRC Expectations for
Core Researcher Development Skills Training. Several avenues exist to meet this, and
dependent on the specific pathway include:
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Departmental provision as specified in training pathway
DTC core training modules
Elements of DTC advanced training, if specified in training pathway
Elements of University Research Students Skills Programme (RSSP)
Elements of Postgraduate Researcher Enterprise Programme
Advanced training in the DTC will be provided for students on particular pathways through
departments and the DTC and sometimes in collaboration with other DTCs across the
country.
Students will have access to the Research Student Support Grant (RTSG) which is a sum
made available to be used for UK fieldwork expenses, UK, EU and overseas conferences and
summer schools; Language training courses; Reimbursement of interpreters, guides and
assistants used during research; Survey costs and purchasing of small items of equipment, for
use in research.
Student Research Project
Supervisors: Andrew Oswald and Daniel Sgroi
For many people in the UK their house is the largest asset they will ever own, involves the
largest loan they will ever undertake, with the longest payback period. House ownership is
for many an important part of life. The housing market itself is one of the most important
markets in the UK, with some economists seeing it as the (ultimate) cause of the financial
crisis of 2008. For Theme 3 of CAGE, one of the key features of interest is how to better
measure and understand what determines wellbeing. Given the scale and importance of
house-ownership in everyday life and to the economy as a whole it is hard to imagine that it
would not feature heavily as an important part of wellbeing. Despite this reasoning there has
been almost no research on links between the housing market and the overall wellbeing of
society. The proposed CAGE-supported PhD student would be tasked with studying this
issue. He or she would examine the possibility that home ownership makes people happier by
giving them security, but also the countervailing possibility that high home ownership leads
to a less efficient labour market building on early work by Andrew Oswald [1] at Warwick on
the correlation between high home ownership and high unemployment and more recent
developments in this area [2]. The PhD student would examine whether there is a trade-off
between security and flexibility, how governments should react to that eventuality if
established empirically, and what the right balance is of renting and ownership in an
internationally competitive economy.
Theoretical work would be needed to develop and build a model incorporating the trade-off
between flexibility and security and the corresponding impact on wellbeing. Econometric
skill would be needed to enable the student to then go on and examine real-world data in
order to establish and understand the links between house-ownership and wellbeing. The
student in question would be expected to have a background in economics and econometrics
though as part of the PhD at Warwick there would be an extensive programme of teaching in
these areas.
Statement of how this project is independent from, but will add value to, the principal
objectives set out in the application
Finally it is important to stress that the research question attached to this PhD studentship is
important in its own right as independent of the greater research objectives of the CAGE
programme. This is important in ensuring that the student in question has an independent
research agenda. For instance, UK housing policy will (like any government policy) need to
consider ramifications for wellbeing and the research undertaken by the PhD student will
help to better understand these ramifications. The PhD studentship will also contribute in a
direct way to our general understanding of how to measure, understand and react to wellbeing
and in this way will also play a key part in Theme 3.1 itself.
References
[1] Oswald A J (1997), “Thoughts on NAIRU”, Journal of Economic Perspectives,
Correspondence, 227-228.
[2] Blanchflower, D G and A J Oswald (2013), “Does high home-ownership impair the labor
market?”, NBER Working Paper #19073.
Year 1: Student will be enrolled in the PhD program having completed all prerequisite
qualifications . He will be expected to have make substantial progress surveying the literature
and making a decision of the set of questions to address. By the end of the year, he should
have made a start understanding the key issues in wellbeing and come up with an empirical
strategy or the elements of a conceptual framework.
Year 2: The first draft of one chapter of his dissertation should be completed. All empirical
work should be completed.
Year 3: Student expected to come up with a first draft of a second chapter of his dissertation.
Both chapters will be revised as necessary to become final. Thesis will be submitted at the
end of the year.