Over the past several decades, housing costs have risen sharply, and as a result, an increasing number of families have become "housing cost burdened," paying more than one third of their income toward rent and utilities. This integrative literature synthesis considers the known and potential impacts of families' housing affordability…

This dissertation studies consumer search behavior in markets where buyers have incomplete information about available goods, such as markets with many sellers or frequently changing prices. In these markets, consumers engage in costly search in order to collect information necessary for making a purchase. Our method of investigation combines…

This study applies two different complementary statistical techniques to examine the structure and determinants of homeownership and consumption of household goods among immigrants in Israel. Findings from partial-order analysis (POSAC) reveal significant differences between immigrant groups by type, rather than level, of household…

Real-estate markets are almost as volatile as stock markets. Prices of agricultural land, of commercial real estate, and of homes and condominiums have gone through a series of huge bubbles, as if people never learned from the previous ones. Such events--in particular the recent housing bubble--are driven by what John Maynard Keynes called animal…

The lax underwriting in non-prime mortgage markets is widely perceived as one cause of the recent difficulties in the housing market. Policymakers are currently considering moves such as enforcing more careful underwriting to provide additional discipline to mortgage markets. This research explores the possibility of another approach to supplement…

Customer loyalty on websites, "e-loyalty", is reflected on customer behavior, regardless of online or offline business. Specifically, it is believed that customer loyalty on a website is strongly associated with website service quality. This study rigorously reviewed previously reported research in the website service quality dimensions and…

This article discusses a curriculum resource database project for housing and consumer economics educators. This database, along with message boards, an event calendar, and discipline-related articles, is available at www.GetYourFACtS.com (Sweaney, Manley, Valente, & Black, 2002). Given the overwhelming volume of information available on the…

This dissertation presents new evidence on neighborhood transition and its impact on housing markets using a novel micro-level dataset on housing transactions. It focuses on three issues: the neighborhood effect, housing discrimination, and stable integration. The first essay examines the relationship between increased minority composition and…

The inauguration of a new president is a typically a time of great hope, and this year is certainly no exception. But the advent of the Obama administration offers residents of New York and other city-dwellers special grounds for optimism: that the period of years, if not decades, when the federal government all but turned its back on the needs of…

Even at land-grant institutions, faculty seldom work with commercial retailers on community programs. Retailers can help with outreach and engagement programs because they provide the "natural habitat" for consumers the programs seek to address. Allied health, family science, and interior design faculty at the Ohio State University…