Interpreting the dynamics of public housing: Cultural and rational choice explanations
- 1 January 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Housing Policy Debate
- Vol. 9 (2), 323-353
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1998.9521297
Abstract
This article uses culture of poverty and rational choice theories of poverty to explain how quickly nonelderly household heads leave public housing. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics serve as the basis for the analysis. Although a significant proportion of all household heads have public housing spells lasting five or more years, the majority have spells lasting less than five years. The availability of other housing options has a strong impact on how quickly individuals move out of public housing. Family structure and human capital play a more modest role. To the extent that one's childhood experiences affect the likelihood of exiting public housing, they appear to do so mostly through their effect on the acquisition of human capital. Finally, the evidence presented is inconsistent with the notion that public housing is a trap from which it is more difficult to escape the longer one lives in it.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Empathological Places: Residents' Ambivalence toward Remaining in Public HousingJournal of Planning Education and Research, 1997
- “… And a suitable living environment”: The failure of housing programs to deliver on neighborhood qualityHousing Policy Debate, 1997
- From dependency to self‐sufficiency: An appraisal of the gateway transitional families programHousing Policy Debate, 1997
- The Effect of Welfare Benefit Levels on Poverty among Single-Parent FamiliesSocial Problems, 1996
- The meanings of resident empowerment: Why just about everybody thinks it's a good idea and what it has to do with resident managementHousing Policy Debate, 1996
- Local Labor Markets and Local Area Effects on Welfare DurationJournal of Policy Analysis and Management, 1995
- Time on WelfareAmerican Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1995
- Rational Choice, Culture of Poverty, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Welfare DependencySouthern Economic Journal, 1991
- Welfare Durations and the Marriage Market: Evidence from the Survey of Income and Program ParticipationThe Journal of Human Resources, 1991
- Turnover in the AFDC Population: An Event History AnalysisThe Journal of Human Resources, 1983