June 17-18, 2025 – Faculty of Economics and Bussiness

December 9, 2025 – 14.30h – Room 1038

This paper studies the causal impact of street noise on housing prices. It focuses on a very dense urban environment and its entire soundscape, using granular data on listed flats and street noise. We employ a combination of hedonic price and fixed effects model, exploiting the regular grid shape of the Eixample district, in Barcelona. Our results indicate that doubling the perceived street noise generates an average depreciation of 3.4% on sales and 2% on rents. We show that the lower semi-elasticity with which the rental market adjusts for the negative externality is associated with a higher turnover of tenants in louder streets. Moreover, we collect several pieces of evidence which suggest that the effect is not driven by sorting by neighbors. Lastly, we use our results to perform two cost-benefit analyses of policies which help reducing noise. Based on our findings, we formulate policy recommendations and highlight specific interventions that can mitigate the negative impact of urban noise.

September 23, 2025 – Room 1038 – 14.30h

We examine the impact of city council members with real estate backgrounds on housing supply in California 1995-2019. Using candidate occupation data and a close-elections regression discontinuity design, we find that electing a developer increases approved housing units by 68% during their term. This effect fades after one term, suggesting developers influence zoning decisions more than long-term policy change. Analysis of votes extracted from council meetings shows they are especially effective in securing discretionary zoning approvals. Importantly, we find no evidence of electoral backlash, suggesting voters are generally supportive of housing expansion led by pro-development candidates.

El acceso a la vivienda se ha convertido en un problema mayúsculo. Según datos de los últimos barómetros del CIS y del CEO, el acceso a la vivienda figura entre los problemas que más preocupan a la ciudadanía en nuestro país. Estas preocupaciones tienen bases objetivas. Según datos de la OCDE, en España el gasto en vivienda como porcentaje del total del gasto de los hogares creció 8 puntos porcentuales entre 1995 y 2022.