In the past, investing in housing has served as an engine of growth for many economies as it is widely recognized that poor housing conditions can have significant negative impacts on human health, education, and economic opportunities. To assess the housing-related quality of life, indicators such as housing quality, housing environment, and cost burdens can be applied. However, recent studies indicate that materials used for construction are critical. Permanent materials, as opposed to temporary materials, typically offer a range of benefits in terms of durability, low maintenance, improved energy efficiency, increased property value, and better safety. The ultimate aim is to identify the key drivers of housing conditions in Cambodia, with a particular focus on materials and water quality, and the legal status of housing. To find the empirical relationship between economic, socio-economic, and demographic variables on the one hand, and variables measuring housing and living conditions in Cambodia on the other, the analysis employs Ordinary Least Squares and Methods-of-Moments regression modeling. Results indicate that high employment rates and entrepreneurship increase home ownership, and improve the quality of drinking water available. Furthermore, in addition to employment and entrepreneurship, the higher-performing construction materials can also be empirically explained by a bigger labor force and variables capturing the wider macroeconomic environment.

Historically, increased credit union competition in Idaho and Montana has caused commercial banks to offer higher deposit rates to savers and lower loan rates to borrowers. Data are collected for the second quarter of 2018 to examine whether that pattern still holds true. Unlike prior studies, empirical results indicate that credit union competition no longer exerts statistically reliable impacts on deposit rates or loan rates in this northern Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Potential contributing factors include bank and thrift consolidation in recent years, the low interest rate environment prevailing during the late 2010s, and greater emphasis on non-interest forms of intermediary competition in the banking markets that comprise this regional economy.