The effects of government policies on housing, location and commute decisions in Singapore: Theory and evidenc

This thesis presents theoretical analyses and empirical evidence of the effects of government domination of the urban economy in Singapore on urban form and on housing and commute decisions. Government domination of the urban economy includes a major public role in the land and housing markets as well as numerous regulations on prices, rents and transactions. These policies have resulted in a considerable distortion of the housing market, which, in part, have been manifested in increased commutation expenses.;Policy discrimination which allowed the use of compulsory savings only for the purchase of public housing (between 1968 and 1981) has increased home-ownership rates for public housing dramatically. However, it had the unintended effect of decreasing home-ownership rates in the private housing sector by placing liquidity constraints on households which were not eligible for public housing.;In order not to create disincentives for work, eligibility criteria for public housing have only to be met at the time of application for public housing. This policy, together with resale regulations, were found to have resulted in the under-consumption of housing by higher income households. It has also affected the mobility of multiple worker households in particular.;The monocentric model was extended to incorporate a large subsidized public housing sector with a price gradient much flatter than that for private housing. Despite the assumption of income equality, households residing in public housing enjoy a higher level of utility as compared to those residing private housing. Moreover, the utility enjoyed by public housing households varies inversely with distance from the CBD.;The residential location decisions of public housing households were tested for the extent to which they conform to the gross price model. It was found that institutional constraints, viz., the allocation system for public housing as well as an arbitrary price for the length of the waiting period for flats in more central locations, improved the predictive power of the model significantly.