The article uses three alternative models and monthly data to investigate whether the Federal Funds Rate or the rate on standard 30 year mortgages in the US for the period 1987 to 2010 impacts an index of housing prices. The results indicate that positive shocks to the Federal Funds Rate are...

"Considerable debate rages about whether Federal Reserve policy was too lax in the early part of the 2000s, thereby fueling the home-price bubble that was the proximate cause of the global financial crisis. We present evidence that the view that modest alterations to monetary policy have vast...