Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282853 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16726
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the effects of rental price changes on college enrollment rates. We exploit cross-district variation in the size and timing of local rental price booms in Germany during the 2010s. A one standard deviation increase in apartment rents decreased per-capita college enrollment by 1.1 percentage points on average. The effect was driven by first-year students moving long distances and was more pronounced in less densely populated locations. Housing costs - the largest component of students' expenditures and an important location factor - have contributed to the slowdown in higher education expansion and reduced the skill-binding effect of universities, exacerbating regional inequality.
Subjects: 
college enrollments
housing market
apartment rents
JEL: 
I23
R21
R31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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