Time:               October 5th, 11:30 a.m.

Speaker:          Miguel Pereira (London School of Economics and Political Science)

Place:               Seminarraum 8, Kolingasse 14-16, 1090 Vienna

Homeowners in Office and Housing Policy

Why do local governments struggle to respond to the housing crisis? We argue that politicians’ position on the
housing market can partially explain opposition to interventionist housing policy. We combine a representative
survey of London councillors (N = 517) with behavioral data from a pro-housing campaign and local news to
document three main results. First, homeowners are overrepresented in office and particularly in planning
committees responsible for approving new housing. Second, homeowners in office allocate less funding for housing and are less likely to make pro-housing public statements. Finally, we find that differences in policy preferences are not driven by information gaps. Homeowners have slightly more accurate perceptions of the housing market position of their constituents, and correcting misperceptions does not change preferences. The results point to politicians' self-interest as a relevant obstacle to housing policy. The study contributes to scholarship on the politics of housing and descriptive representation.

About the speaker:

Miguel Pereira is an Associate Professor in European Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on inequalities in political representation and the behaviour of political elites in established democracies with a focus on causal inference. He is also interested in questions on women and politics, corruption, policy diffusion, and attitude formation.
Miguel is a founder and co-director of the Local Governance Laboratory, an organization that collaborates with public officials across Europe to solve local governance challenges and bolster the link between voters and their representatives.
Prior work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, or American Journal of Political Science, among others. Before working at the LSE, Miguel was an assistant professor at the University of Southern California. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. More details on his research and publications can be found on his personal website.