The severe world-wide recession of 2008-09 has focused attention on the role of asset-price bubbles in exacerbating economic instability in capitalist economies. The boom in house prices in the United States from 2000 through 2006 is a case in point. According to the Case-Shiller 20-city index,...

Longstanding speculation about the likelihood of a housing market collapse has given way in the past few months to consideration of just how far the housing market will fall, and how much damage the debacle will inflict on the economy. This paper assesses the magnitude of the impact of housing...

The paper deals with equilibrium real price of a fixed asset in a growing economy. The supply of this kind of assets is by assumption fixed. Land or unique works of art are probably their closest empirical counterparts. Economic growth is manifested by a systematic increase in the real price of...

Hong Kong, China's housing market witnessed dramatic appreciations recently, with the price index for private domestic housing units being 3 times higher than 10 years ago. This trend is supported by both internal and external factors, as illustrated in this paper. By providing a theoretical...

Hong Kong, China's housing market witnessed dramatic appreciations recently, with the price index for private domestic housing units being 3 times higher than 10 years ago. This trend is supported by both internal and external factors, as illustrated in this paper. By providing a theoretical...

This study provides a broad overview of the private housing market in central and eastern Europe and some of the CIS – its history, current conditions and implications for the overall economy. It highlights regional differences, describes the different policy choices that have been made, and...

Real home prices have been rising strongly since the mid-1990s, and have continued to do so even as the economy has weakened. This has sparked the concern as to whether there is a bubble in the housing market, the collapse of which could harm the overall economy. Taking into account fundamentals...

This policy proposal outlines a substantial economic stimulus package needed to address the recent downturn in the U.S. economy. This stimulus package details steps to create jobs, provide economic support and lessen the effects of a weakening economy.

Uncertainty about the riskiness of new financial products was an important factor behind the U.S. credit crisis. We show that a boom-bust cycle in debt, asset prices and consumption characterizes the equilibrium dynamics of a model with a collateral constraint in which agents learn "by...