Home Ownership

I was thinking some more the other day about the mortgage interest deduction and government efforts to promote home ownership. It is my position that it's a bad thing for a myriad of reasons, and that it serves to encourage people to take on a responsibility that they may not be prepared for -- at least partially contributing to the current housing troubles. This isn't terribly original thinking, with at least a couple of noteworthy articles coming out this year that call into question the government's decision to promote home ownership.

But in particular I was thinking about some of the logic behind the mortgage deduction -- basically that people who own their home have more of a stake in society and are apt to be more responsible citizens, in addition to it serving as an investment vehicle. But is the former true? I found home ownership rates for some other countries:

Rank  Country             % Homeowners

1.    Spain     85.3
2.    Greece   83.6
3.    Italy       75.5
4.    Belgium    72.9
5.    Luxembourg      70.8
6.    United Kingdom     70.6
7.    United States       67.5
8.    Portugal          65.0
9.    Denmark         65.0
10.    France   62.7
11.    Sweden        59.9
12.    Netherlands       54.4

Is anyone ready to tell me that the Greeks and Italians tend to be better neighbors or more responsible citizens that the Swedes and Dutch? It's also notable that the British have slightly higher home ownership rates that the U.S. despite their elimination of the mortgage interest deduction.