Using a unique survey data of Chinese households, we study the impact of house price growth and house price risk on entrepreneurship. House price risk, measured as the sensitivity of house price growth to local GDP growth, negatively impacts the entrepreneurship of homeowners relative to...

We document a housing wealth effect on the stock liquidity of local firms. We first demonstrate that the heterogeneity of homeownership rates across geographical areas can explain variations in the impact that changes in house prices have on local stock liquidity. We then show, consistent with...

Building on Flavin and Nakagawa (2008), this paper models household optimal consumption and portfolio selection when consumption services are generated by both non-durable consumption and by holding a durable good housing. Housing is illiquid in that a non-convex adjustment cost must be paid...

This paper shows that households' mortgage refinancing decisions suboptimally depend on uninformative reference points, imposing a friction to the refinancing channel of monetary policy. I study refinancing behavior in the UK, where on pre-determined dates initial fixed rates reset and...

Borrowing decisions affect most households, with large stakes and implications for subfields as varied as macroeconomics and industrial organization. I review theoretical and empirical work on household debt: its prevalence, level, growth, and composition, as well as various measures of consumer...

The correlation between stock and housing prices, which is critical for household asset allocations, varies widely by metropolitan area and country. A general equilibrium model demonstrates that an aggregate positive technology shock increases stock prices and housing demand but can decrease...

Can inflation cure mortgage debt overhang and mitigate the severity of housing busts? Focusing on the Great Recession, I address this question through the lens of a quantitative macroeconomic model of illiquid housing, endogenous mortgage pricing, and equilibrium default. First, I show that an...

Superstition surrounding lucky numbers is observed to affect behavior in consumer goods and investment markets alike. In paying more (less) for assets perceived to be lucky (unlucky), individuals are revealing themselves as ‘enculturated' actors in their financial decisions. This paper...

Do investors reach for yield when interest rates are low, and how does this behavior influence house prices? This paper uses the unique setting of 17th-18th century Amsterdam to answer this question, using newly-collected archival data on investment portfolios and the universe of property...

This paper examines the law and policy nexus in the context of overseas investment law, primarily in New Zealand. It examines the difficulties of balancing the need for overseas investment-especially in land and business assets-against the need to protect a country's interests and in doing so...