Is there an endogeneity problem between health and apartment value? Gender differences and the impact of obesity on property self-evaluation

• Published in: Journal of housing and the built environment 2022-06, Vol.37 (2), p.807-822
• Main Authors: Arbel, Yuval, Fialkoff, Chaim, Kerner, Amichai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apartments; Avoidance behavior; Body image; Body mass index; Cognitive ability; Demographic variables; Demography; Discrimination; Economic analysis; Economics; Empirical analysis; Employment; Evaluation; Females; Finance; Gender; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Geography; Housing; Housing costs; Human Geography; Immigration; Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning; Market value; Men; Norms; Obesity; Optimism; Penalties; Personal characteristics; Polls & surveys; Prices; Psychological factors; Real estate; Risk; Romantic relationships; Self esteem; Self evaluation; Self-assessment; Sex differences; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Wealth; Women
• ISSN: 1566-4910; 1573-7772
• DOI: 10.1007/s10901-021-09879-0

Background Numerous studies have compared self evaluation and market values of apartments by employing hedonic regressions. Most of these studies demonstrated that self evaluation of apartments are typically overly optimistic. Yet, none of these studies explored the relationship between self-evaluation of apartments and obesity as a proxy for self esteem, particularly among women. Previous empirical evidence suggests weight discrimination against women in employment and income, education and romantic relationships. Following the influence of western values and norms regarding a slim body image of women and the implications of these social obesity penalties, one would anticipate a lower self evaluation of apartment value among obese women. Another strand of the literature shows that compared to men, women are more conservative financial investors. Objectives To explore gender differences in self-evaluation of apartments with respect to BMI (=  WEIGHT H E I G H T 2 = kg m e t e r 2 where BMI ≥ 30 is defined as obese person) as a proxy for self esteem. In an economic rational domain, housing price evaluations are not expected to be influenced by personal characteristics (such as gender, wealth, employment marital and immigration status, number of children) and psychological features of the evaluator. Consequently, the current study is closely related to the literature that deals with real estate and behavioral finance and economics. Methods We analyze a representative sample of the Israeli population, obtained from the 2015–2016 longitudinal survey carried out by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), where the responses of each individual were recorded twice (during 2015 and 2016). The survey includes information on weight and height of each family member, from which the BMI measure is calculated (weight ÷ height 2 ), as-well-as apartment value, gender and a long list of economics and socio-demographic control variables, and apartment characteristics. To investigate this research question, we use a 2SLS methodology, and run the empirical model separately based on ethnic origin and gender. Results Findings suggest that for both genders, BMI is negatively correlated with self-evaluation of apartments. Yet, compared to men, female self-evaluation of housing prices are more conservative and less influenced by BMI changes. This outcome is obtained despite the fact that as part of the modern western societies, Jewish Israeli women are more susceptible to