Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Local self-governments in Sweden control local zoning and building permits, and the political drivers of housing supply can vary greatly dependent on the political context. I test whether ideology in municipal self-governments and political fragmentation influence the number of housing units in newly constructed buildings, in both multi- and single-dwelling buildings. I compile a panel dataset of Swedish municipalities covering the election periods 1994-2022, and estimate Fixed effects Poisson models, clustered at the municipality level. After controlling for demographic, economic and fiscal factors, neither left- nor right-leaning dominance shows any robust link to housing starts in either building type. Results from political fragmentation in local governments suggests additional parties to reduce expected multi-dwelling starts, but not when it comes to single-dwelling starts, regardless of ideology.