The paper introduces a new way to measure how changes in housing and financial wealth affect overall spending. By looking at how spending habits change over time, the researchers found that a rise in housing wealth leads to an immediate increase in spending of about 2 cents, with a larger long-term effect of around 9 cents. This effect is bigger than the impact of changes in financial wealth. The method used in this study is considered better than other approaches because it doesn't rely on the assumption of a stable relationship between different economic factors.