House price bubbles, and their aftermath, have become a focus of macro-economic policy concern in most developed countries. This book elucidates the two-way relationship between house-price fluctuations and economic fundamentals. Housing has many features which make it distinct from other...

By August 1998, the Hong Kong economy had become threatened not only by the natural consequences of the Asian crisis (1997/8), but also by waves of speculation, betting that the authorities would be forced to abandon the linked exchange rate (to the US dollar). When facing previous speculative...

Financial crises, often of an apparently contagious nature, have become more frequent over the last two decades than they were previously. The monetary authorities, especially central banks, and, in the international context, the International Monetary Fund, have had to decide how to handle...