6533b7cffe1ef96bd1259b7b

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Construction de logements sociaux et stratégies électorales locales,

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Our article examines if local incumbents’ choices regarding social housing construction are influenced by strategic electoral considerations, which might foil the French state’s efforts in favour of greater social mixity. By constructing a probabilistic voting model which integrates a partially mobile population, we show that such strategic considerations let the political choices of neighbouring municipalities become interdependent, and that the intensity of the resulting strategic inter-actions varies in function of the local population’s mobility. These propositions are confirmed by our empirical analysis concerning social housing construction in the Greater Lyon region. A local incumbent’s willingness to construct social housing might thus effectively depend on his appraisal of this choice’s consequences on the long term evolution of his electoral base. Classification JEL : D72, R38, C21, H7