The end of mass homeownership? Changes in labour markets and housing tenure opportunities across Europe

With continued economic growth and expanding mortgage markets, until recently the pattern across advanced economies was of growing homeownership sectors. The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) has however, undercut this growth resulting in the contraction of homeownership access in many countries and the revival of private renting. This paper argues that these tenure changes are not solely a consequence of the GFC, and therefore, reversible once long-term growth returns. Rather, they are the consequences of more fundamental changes especially in labour markets. The very financialisation that fuelled the growth of homeownership has also led to a hollowing out of well-paid, secure jobs—exactly those that fit best with the taking of housing loans. We examine longer-term declines in labour market security across Europe from before the GFC, identifying an underlying correlation between deteriorated labour market conditions and homeownership access for young adults. While variations exist across European countries, there is evidence of common trends. We argue that the GFC both accelerated pre-existing labour insecurity dynamics and brought an end to offsetting such dynamics through the expansion of credit access with the likelihood of a return to an era of widespread homeownership growth starkly decreased

Structure of the 2-isopropylaminoethanol isolated molecule: Conformational analysis and intramolecular interactions

In this paper, a systematic exploration of all the possible conformers of 2-isopropylaminoethanol (2-IPAE) was carried out using the Density Functional Theory (B3LYP) and the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. At this level, 66 unique conformers within a Gibbs energy range of ca. 31 kJ mol-1 were found in the potential energy surface and their geometrical and thermodynamic properties were determined and discussed. A significant molecular strain was evidenced by the dihedrals and distances between non-bonded hydrogen atoms. According to the geometrical parameters, a O-H···N hydrogen bond was found to be present in the three most stable conformers, representing 68% of the conformational composition at 298.15 K. The energetic and geometrical data derived from the DFT calculations were further complemented by a NBO analysis of the most stable conformers.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGT-4SP3SK0-2/1/823e968aaafa83b518fa859a45fbcb5