The Unassuming Economist

From VoxEU: “The Eurozone crisis has opened fault lines between German economists and policymakers and those in a number of Eurozone (in particular periphery) countries.This column introduces a new eBook explaining the historical development of the ordoliberal school of economics and its influence on German policymaking, and contrasting it critically with what we like to call the Anglo-Saxon-Latin pragmatism of economic policymaking.”

Download the new eBook here.

On cross-country:

• A quarter of household expenditure allocated to housing – Eurostat
• The Problem With Expensive Real Estate – Bloomberg
• Capacity Building & Disseminating best practices in affordable housing – Housing Europe

On the US:

• More reactions to House Tax Reform Bill – Curbed, Foreign Affairs, NAHB, Politico, Seattle Times
• A duopsony built around rent-seeking – American Enterprise Institute
• After a Natural Disaster, Do Landlords Jack Up the Rent? – Priceonomics
• Why Does Land-Use Regulation (Still) Matter in Oregon? – Cato Institute
• House and Senate Tax Plans Cut Affordable Housing, Set Stage for Deeper Cuts Later – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• The Mortgage Credit Channel of Macroeconomic Transmission – MIT
• What the Housing Market in America Needs Is More Options – Smithsonian

On other countries:

• [Australia] Speech on Mortgage Insights From Securitisation Data – Reserve Bank of Australia
• [Australia] Regional housing supply and demand in Australia – Australian National University
• [Brazil] Loan-to-value policy and housing finance: effects on constrained borrowers – Bank for International Settlements
• [Canada] Even Real Estate Developers Can’t Afford Toronto’s Housing Market – Bloomberg
• [China] China to step up property market regulation to avoid bubble risk – Reuters
• [Japan] Is Tokyo’s property market reaching its peak? – Financial Times
• [Romania] Housing privatization in Romania – Economics of Transition
• [Sweden] Slowdown in Swedish house prices is ‘positive’ for stability – Riksbank – Financial Times
• [Sweden] Riksbank Governor Tries to Quell Fears of Swedish Housing Slump – Bloomberg
• [Switzerland] Zurich’s Public Housing Problem: The Tenants Are Too Rich – Citylab
• [Switzerland] Lessons from Zurich – Inside Housing
• [United Kingdom] Your regular reminder that stamp duty cuts make nearly no difference to anything – Financial Times
• [United Kingdom] 2017 Autumn Statement Response – Cluttons

The IMF’s latest report on Philippines says that “However, credit growth has accelerated from 13.6 percent in 2015 to 19.7 percent in July 2017, led by consumer credit and real estate loans. Although most indicators show no evidence of a credit boom so far, property prices have stabilized, and lending standards have not deteriorated, some indicators suggest that, under current trends, credit gaps could approach early warning levels of credit booms in 2017−18 (…)”.

From a new IMF working paper:

“Korea is facing mounting economic challenges. Productivity growth has been on a trend decline amid demographic headwinds, while the societal demand for inclusive growth has been on a steep rise. Furthermore, the government-led unbalanced growth model—which served Korea well in the past—has become less effective and politically palatable in recent years. As such, Korea needs a major paradigm shift to embark on a new sustainable and inclusive growth path. But policy response has been modest at best with no major reforms being implemented over the past two decades. We propose a paradigm shift in Korea’s economic framework, involving a simultaneous big push for greater economic freedom and stronger social protection within the parameters set by long-run fiscal sustainability. We also provide a detailed account of structural reforms to boost economic freedom and sustainable funding plans for stronger social protection.”

A new IMF country report finds:

“The implementation of the Pacto por México has already led to important transformations in the Mexican economy. While initial estimates of potential growth payoffs may have been optimistic, external headwinds have masked important signals that the reforms are working. From a macroeconomic perspective, the reforms have already contributed to increasing investment, falling prices and more widespread access to services.

The reforms will take more time to fully feed through to the broader macro economy and lift growth. The delayed impact of the reforms owes to their complexity as well as some important short-term costs. At the same time, weaknesses in the rule of law will have weakened their impacts. Nevertheless, the transformations have highlighted the positive synergies associated with a broad approach to structural reform that exploits complementarities between different sectors.

Building on existing reforms will be key, and priority should be given to reforms targeting the rule of law. Continued weaknesses related to informality, corruption and crime would stifle private investment and would likely impede the broader reform effort from exerting its full impact on the economy. Improving the efficiency and quality of law enforcement and judicial institutions would be critical in this regard.”