Paper Titles & Abstracts

Poor housing conditions have long been recognized as a source of health deprivation, which is supported by various cross-sectional studies. However, empirical evidence scrutinizing that relationship with panel data is still surprisingly sparse. In particular, there is lacking evidence in a cross-country comparative manner. Both research gaps are addressed in our article. First, we use EU-SILC panel data from 2005-2008 and estimate logistic regression models with time-fixed, state-fixed and person-fixed effects in order to identify (possible) causal links of deprived housing conditions (f.i. shortage of space, leaking roofs, damp walls/rot, inability to keep the home warm) on self-reported health. Second, we apply multi-level models to the same data in order to assess the influence of different policy measures on effect heterogeneity (slope-as-outcome Models) and on between-country variability of the dependent variable (intercept-as-outcome Models). EU-SILC delivers a large set of socioeconomic variables that can be used as controls. Moreover, due to common standards for data production a comparison of different EU countries is possible. Preliminary results show that, while controlling for education, income, age, sex, marital status and economic status, living in a dwelling with leaking roofs, damp walls or rot and limited means to keep the home warm significantly increase the likelihood of reporting a bad/very bad health status. Concerning the second research focus, preliminary results demonstrate that there is also a significant effect of country fixed effects on self-reported health. Around 10% of the variability in the dependent variable can be attributed to country specific factors.