Paperlink
Abstract
I estimate the welfare and distributional impact of the home-sharing platform Airbnb on
New York City renters. I develop a structural model of an integrated housing market
with two novel features. First, in addition to the traditional long-term rental market,
absentee landlords can reallocate their housing units to the newly available short-term
rental market. Second, residents can directly host short-term visitors, increasing housing
utilization. Overall, renters in NYC suffer a welfare loss of $2.4 billion, where losses from
increased rents dominate gains from hosting. Moreover, the increased rent burden falls
most heavily on high-income, educated, and white renters. By characterizing winners and
losers, this paper provides a framework for evaluating the impact of such technological
innovations.
Organizers: Robert Richmond (rjr10@stern.nyu.edu) and Arpit Gupta (agupta3@stern.nyu.edu)
NYU affiliates interested in attending should contact Lindsay Anderson
For more information please visit the Stern Wednesday Finance Seminar Website