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Homelessness on the West Coast and the Role of Health: Inefficiency and Productivity Loss in American Society

Corey Fuller (Southwest Airlines, Dallas, TX, USA)

Robin C. Sickles (Department of Economics, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA)

ISBN: 978-1-83797-874-8, eISBN: 978-1-83797-873-1

Publication date: 5 April 2024

Abstract

Homelessness has many causes and also is stigmatized in the United States, leading to much misunderstanding of its causes and what policy solutions may ameliorate the problem. The problem is of course getting worse and impacting many communities far removed from the West Coast cities the authors examine in this study. This analysis examines the socioeconomic variables influencing homelessness on the West Coast in recent years. The authors utilize a panel fixed effects model that explicitly includes measures of healthcare access and availability to account for the additional health risks faced by individuals who lack shelter. The authors estimate a spatial error model (SEM) in order to better understand the impacts that systemic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have on a variety of factors that directly influence productivity and other measures of welfare such as income inequality, housing supply, healthcare investment, and homelessness.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editors and a referee for comments that substantially improved the chapter.

Citation

Fuller, C. and Sickles, R.C. (2024), "Homelessness on the West Coast and the Role of Health: Inefficiency and Productivity Loss in American Society", Parmeter, C.F., Tsionas, M.G. and Wang, H.-J. (Ed.) Essays in Honor of Subal Kumbhakar (Advances in Econometrics, Vol. 46), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 45-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0731-905320240000046004

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited