Heidi Artigue

Heidi Artigue and Richard Jin, College Alumni Networks and Mobility Across Local Labor Markets.

Abstract: We quantify the impact of alumni networks on the geographic mobility of job seekers for nearly 1,400 US colleges and universities. We use detailed employment and education information on LinkedIn users to isolate college-educated workers who faced an exogenous job separation in a mass layoff or firm closure. Using a nested logit model of location choice, we compare the migration decisions of job seekers who were displaced in the same city and who attended different but similar and geographically proximate universities. We find that a 1% increase in the number of co-alumni in the city of displacement increases a job seeker's odds of staying there by 0.4%. Conditional on moving, a 1% increase in a potential destination's number of co-alumni increases the odds of choosing that city over another by 0.9%. Co-alumni may both impact job search and provide local amenities. Using data on the presence or absence of co-alumni at new jobs, we conclude that the job search channel is particularly important.  Co-alumni from the same or neighboring graduating class have much larger impacts on location choice, indicating true network effects rather than idiosyncratic matches between alumni of certain colleges and jobs in certain cities. We also find strong impacts of having more local co-alumni who work in the same industry.

Heidi Artigue, Patrick Bayer, Fernando Ferreira, Stephen L. Ross, Does Homeownership Matter? The Long-Term Consequences of Losing a House during the Great Recession.

Abstract: We examine the long-term effects of owning versus renting a home on household wealth and consumption in the United States. Our research design compares homeowners who became seriously delinquent during the Great Recession but differed in whether they received a mortgage modification. While the two groups exhibit nearly identical pre-trends, they diverge by 36 percentage points in home retention. More than half of this disparity persists nearly a decade later, translating into approximately \$70,000 in additional housing wealth. Despite substantial differences in homeownership and housing wealth, these gains did not translate into higher consumption, partly because tightening credit constraints limited households’ ability to borrow against accumulated housing equity.

Heidi Artigue, Work from Home and the Geography of House Prices.

Abstract: I quantify the impact of remote work on the geography of house prices. I overcome challenges in measurement and endogeneity using an instrumental variables strategy paired with pre- and post-COVID data on remote work. I find that a one-percentage-point increase in metro remote work results in $10,500 of additional price growth for a median-distance suburb over a central neighborhood of average initial price, which represents $126,000 at average remote work growth. This profound shift in the distribution of home value stands to increase wealth inequality.

Heidi Artigue, Jeffrey Brinkman, Svyatoslav Karnasevych, The Push of Big City Prices and the Pull of Small Town Amenities.

Abstract: As house prices rise in large, supply-constrained cities, what are the implications for other places that have room to grow? We explore how location amenities have differentially driven population and price dynamics in small towns versus big cities. We provide theory and evidence that demand for high-amenity locations has increased. High-amenity counties in large metropolitan areas have experienced price increases, while high-amenity counties in small metros and rural areas have absorbed increased demand through population growth. High-income and college-educated workers sort into large and high-amenity places, while retirees and other households detached from local productivity gravitate to high-amenity small towns.