過去十年來我國各地房價急速上漲,高漲的房價是否造成社會經濟不公平成為各界關注的議題。本研究使用2002至2014年內政部不動產資訊平臺的房價資料、以及中華民國家庭收支調查報告中的家戶所得結構資料建立一縣市級的追蹤資料庫,以實證估計房價高漲對於臺灣家戶所得結構的影響,由此結果推論房價上漲對於臺灣經濟機會平等的影響。固定效果模型的估計結果顯示房價上漲帶動較大幅度非工作所得以及私人財產所得的上漲(相對於工作所得),其中非工作所得的成長率高於工作所得的成長率19至28個百分點,私人財產所得的成長率則高於工作所得的成長率12至19個百分點。因此我們推論房價上漲賦予了高所得階層更多的經濟優勢與機會、經濟機會趨於不平等。
Taiwan has witnessed a rapid increase in its housing prices in the last decade. A large number of studies have examined the likely impact of rising housing prices on social and economic inequality. However, as previous studies provided mostly theoretical arguments, relatively little empirical evidence has been offered. This paper establishes a county-level panel dataset consisting of 20 counties and cities in Taiwan from 2002 to 2014 and empirically examines the relationship between housing prices and household income structure, from which we infer the impact of rising housing prices on the equality of economic opportunities in Taiwan. The results show that the rising housing prices in Taiwan were associated with a greater increase in the share of "non-labor income" and "private property income" relative to "labor income", implying that economic opportunities were becoming unequal and were more in favor of the high-income class.