Green Homeowners? An Empirical Application of Fischel’s Homevoter Hypothesis

Abstract

It is a no-brainer that owners of private property usually care about their personal possessions. But does this also apply to public goods? Fischel’s homevoter hypothesis argues that property owners—in this case homeowners—will exhibit more than average concern with regard to public goods, particularly local public goods in their own neighborhood such as the local crime rate, nearby schools, and environmental quality. This contribution applies Fischel’s hypothesis to the public good of residential environmental conditions. Based on survey and administrative data collected in two cities, Mainz in Germany and Zurich in Switzerland, it examines whether house and apartment owners, as compared to house and apartment renters, are more eager to participate in protest against environmental bads in their neighborhood. Empirical results show that homeowners tend to live under better residential environmental conditions than renters. In line with the homevoter hypothesis, they also tend to participate more often in public protest activities against residential environmental bads, including local noise pollution due to road traffic and aircraft noise. However, some empirical findings, e.g., the “aircraft noise challenge” for homeowners, contradict the originally formulated hypotheses.