We estimate the optimal tax on property flips by applying a sufficient statistics approach to a 2011 reform in Taiwan which levied a 10%-15% surcharge on investment properties sold within two years. Linking buyer-seller income tax returns to sales records, we find a 75% drop in one-year flips....

We argue that, when a housing bubble bursts, the combination of high loan-to-value mortgages and costly foreclosures can inhibit house prices from quickly falling to their new equilibrium levels. The adjustment problem manifests itself, among other ways, in homeowners being unable to complete...

This paper employs a correspondence experiment across the Northeast US to examine landlord responses to prospective tenants inquiries through a low-income housing rental web site. Using two randomized treatment groups, we find that the probability of a prospective tenant receiving a response...

This Inquiry final report brings together three separate research projects to examine the capacity of Australia’s smaller cities to assist in managing population growth, including international and national migration; and provides advice on which policy instruments and programs are most likely...

Historical anecdotes of new investors being drawn into a booming asset market, only to suffer when the market turns, abound. While the role of investor contagion in asset bubbles has been explored extensively in the theoretical literature, causal empirical evidence on the topic is virtually...

How should urban containment and the diversion of households to nearby residential areas be evaluated from a welfare economic perspective? Assuming the existence of a negative externality of city size, we develop a concise general equilibrium model for a mother city and a satellite. This...

Why are regional unemployment differentials in Europe so persistent if, as the wage curve literature demonstrates, there is no compensation in labour markets? We hypothesize that workers in high-unemployment regions are compensated in housing markets. Modelling regional unemployment...