Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/150749 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 202
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
Adequate housing and affordable warmth are essential human needs, the lack of which may seriously harm people's health. Germany provides an allowance to low-income households, covering the housing as well as the space heating cost, to protect people from the consequences of poor housing conditions and fuel poverty. In order to limit public expenditures, payment recipients are required to choose low-cost dwellings, with the consequence that they probably occupy flats with a poor thermal performance. Recipients are thus likely to have a higher energy consumption and energy expenditures. Using a large data set of German households, this paper demonstrates that this counteracting effect is of negligible magnitude. Yet, from an ecological perspective, the allowance scheme creates distorted incentives and should be reformed.
Subjects: 
Housing Allowance
Energy Efficiency
Simultaneous-Equation System
JEL: 
C33
H53
Q48
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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