关键词: 中国城市家庭, 地位寻求, 居住面积, 居民消费, CHFS数据

Abstract: Housing bears not only functions of consumption and investment but also a symbol of social status for families. The concern about social status might make people shift more resources from non-positional goods to positional goods, leading to distorted resources distribution. Based on status seeking theories, this paper for the first time makes an empirical analysis of housing demand and consumption behavior of the Chinese urban families by applying CHFS data. The findings show that: (1) the housing of the Chinese urban households reveals a high positional degree feature, the expansion of housing area is related to status comparisons. (2) Regardless of households with low, moderate or high income, the expansion of housing area has an apparent crowding-out effect on consumption; whereas the rise of housing prices merely curb the consumption of the households with moderate and low income, with no substantial impact on those high-income households.

Key words: Chinese Urban Households, Status Seeking, Housing Area, Residents’ Consumptions, CHFS Data