A Study On The Impact Of Housing Provident Fund On Household Consumption Structure

The housing provident fund system is a long-term housing savings system designed to form a stable source of housing funds through the joint savings of units and individuals,and to transform the housing allocation mechanism and improve the housing consumption capacity of employees through the provision of loans for home purchase.After more than two decades of practice and exploration,China’s housing provident fund system has played an important role in raising the individual housing ownership rate of urban workers,improving the housing conditions of urban residents,and promoting the reform of the housing system and the rapid development of the real estate market.The provident fund system provides enterprise workers with welfare effects such as preferential interest rates on loans and exemption from personal income tax,but it can also have negative effects on enterprise workers such as liquidity constraints,high down payment ratios on home purchases and low loan amounts.In recent years,as social reforms have continued,China’s provident fund system has revealed many drawbacks in its operation and some problems have gradually emerged.In particular,since the outbreak of the new epidemic,the "debate on the retention or abolition" of the housing provident fund has once again become a hot topic.Some scholars believe that commercial bank loans are the mainstay of China’s current housing loans,and that the provident fund system has increased the labour costs of enterprises,which is not conducive to their innovative development,and that the provident fund system has less significance.However,some scholars have also found that CPF has a positive impact in meeting the housing needs of families,optimising the allocation of family assets and improving the well-being of families.Therefore,based on the above factors,this paper analyses the net effect of the housing provident fund system on household consumption from the perspective of household consumption structure,and provides an empirical basis for a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness and rationality of the housing provident fund system.The main research contents of this paper include the following aspects: First of all,through the comprehensive combing of the existing literature,the definition of relevant concepts is defined;secondly,combined with the “Absolute Income Theory ”,“Permanent Income Hypothesis”,“Life‐Cycle Hypothesis ”and “Precautionary Saving Theory”,the internal mechanism of housing provident fund to promote household consumption is analyzed.Again,the establishment of measurement model,empirical test housing provident fund on the level of household consumption and consumption structure to promote;under the premise of ensuring the reliability of benchmark regression by means of robustness test and endogenous treatment,the specific mechanism of action is further analyzed,and the effects of housing provident fund on household consumption in different situations are investigated according to family characteristics and regional characteristics.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The housing provident fund deposit has improved the household consumption level and improved the household consumption structure as a whole.(2)Housing provident fund acts on household consumption through two channels increasing disposable income and reducing precautionary savings.(3)The effect of housing provident fund on the consumption level of’ youth group ’ families,low-income families,non-housing and non-loan families and housing and loan families is not obvious,indicating that China ’s housing provident fund system has insufficient support for non-housing and low-income groups,and it is difficult to improve the welfare level of low-income families.This paper examines the important role of housing provident fund deposit in improving household consumption level and optimizing consumption structure,and puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions according to the reality reflected in the research conclusions.Compared with the existing literature,this paper examines the impact and mechanism of housing provident fund on household consumption,and examines the differences in the impact of housing provident fund through income grouping and housingloan grouping.The research conclusions are more comprehensive and richer.