Albert Alex Zevelev

Albert Alex Zevelev

My interests include Household Finance, Housing, and Macro Finance. I work on methods that exploit non-causal machine learning techniques to improve causal inference.

Research Agenda

  • In the canonical model of asset pricing, house prices equal the present value of future net rents (or shelter service flows for owner-occupiers):
  • \[\begin{align*} p_{t} &= \mathbb{E}_{t} \sum_{i=1}^{i=\infty} \frac{ \text{Rent}_{t+i} }{ (1+r)^{i} } \end{align*}\]
  • In this model house prices move due to either changes in expected rents or discount rates.
  • My research studies benefits of home ownership which are consumed by owners but not by renters.
  • The ability to pledge a home as collateral (along with the tax benefits) is enjoyed by owners but not by renters.
  • The ability to protect home equity from unsecured creditors is enjoyed by owners but not by renters.
  • Incorporating these indirect service flows (denoted $X_{t}$) can help us better understand house price movements:
  • \[\begin{align*} p_{t} &= \mathbb{E}_{t} \sum_{i=1}^{i=\infty} \frac{ \text{Rent}_{t+i} + X_{t+i}}{ (1+r)^{i} } \end{align*}\]

News

  • September, 2021. My paper “Does Collateral Value Affect Asset Prices? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Texas” was published in RFS.

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