Real estate investment, loan preference, and national happiness: Evidence from China

Abstract

With two-stage least squares and LS models, this paper investigates the effects of real estate investment and loan preference on national happiness with data of 31 provinces in China from 2000 to 2018. The conclusions are that a rapid growth of real estate investment has significant adverse effects on national happiness in modern China. Specifically, real estate investment has negative impacts on disposable income, consumption structure, and personal development. Moreover, the rapid growth of real estate investment and institutions’ loan preference leads to other inhibitory effects on national happiness. The intermediary effect model confirms the transmission mechanism of the rapid growth of real estate investment, the loan structure, and national happiness. According to our research, we propose conductive suggestions for the governments.