Housing markets and policy in the UK and the USA

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Jones ◽  
Harry W. Richardson

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how the exogenous shock of the global financial crisis has had a differential impact on the housing markets of the USA and UK. Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins by examining the nature and dynamics of the global financial crisis. It presents a detailed comparison of institutional and housing market characteristics in each country. A particular focus is the differences in mortgage funding and subprime lending trends over the decade leading up to the financial crisis. Findings – The analysis demonstrates the distinctiveness of the recent housing cycles and the geography of the downward price adjustments. Relative unemployment rates play a key role in these outcomes. Despite the different dynamics of the boom and bust, there is a common legacy in terms of the collapse of house building, repossessions/foreclosures and falling home ownership rates. The short-term policy responses by both governments addressed the same target issues in alternative ways but with different outcomes. Longer-term solutions are still being debated in both countries. Originality/value – Innovatory insights are provided by the comparison of the sub-national spatial pattern of the recent house price cycle in two countries.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 539-550
Author(s):  
Dario Pontiggia ◽  
Petros Stavrou Sivitanides

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether the rapid accumulation of bank deposits before the global financial crisis and their subsequent drastic reduction was the main driving force of the Cyprus house price cycle over the period 2006–2015.Design/methodology/approachTo this aim we estimate a three-equation model in which house prices are determined by housing loans, among other factors, and housing loans are determined by bank deposits. All equations are estimated using partial adjustment model specifications.FindingsOur findings indicate that housing loans, which capture the effect of credit availability on housing demand, had the smallest effect on house prices, thus providing little support to our proposition of a deposits-driven cycle in house prices.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study is the use of the housing loan stock instead of the actual volume of housing loans in each period due to lack of such data. As a result our econometric estimates may not accurately capture the magnitude of the effect of housing loans on house prices.Practical implicationsThe study has important practical implications for policy makers as it highlights the importance of availability of credit in supporting effective demand for housing during periods of economic growth. Furthermore, it highlights the key role of house price increases in combination with the collateral effect in driving the house price cycle.Originality/valueThis is among the few studies internationally and the first study in Cyprus that attempts to link econometrically the credit and house price cycles that were caused by the global financial crisis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 980-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Canarella ◽  
Stephen M. Miller

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on a sequential three-stage analysis of inflation persistence using monthly data from 11 inflation targeting (IT) countries and, for comparison, the USA, a non-IT country with a history of credible monetary policy. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors estimate inflation persistence in a rolling-window fractional-integration setting using the semiparametric estimator suggested by Phillips (2007). Second, the authors use tests for unknown structural breaks as a means to identify effects of the regime switch and the global financial crisis on inflation persistence. The authors use the sequences of estimated persistence measures from the first stage as dependent variables in the Bai and Perron (2003) structural break tests. Finally, the authors reapply the Phillips (2007) estimator to the subsamples defined by the breaks. Findings Four countries (Canada, Iceland, Mexico, and South Korea) experience a structural break in inflation persistence that coincide with the implementation of the IT regime, and three IT countries (Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK), as well as the USA experience a structural break in inflation persistence that coincides with the global financial crisis. Research limitations/implications The authors find that in most cases the estimates of inflation persistence switch from mean-reversion nonstationarity to mean-reversion stationarity. Practical implications Monetary policy implications differ between pre- and post-global financial crisis. Social implications Global financial crisis affected the persistence of inflation rates. Originality/value First paper to consider the effect of the global financial crisis on inflation persistence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 904-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashrafee Tanvir Hossain ◽  
Lawrence Kryzanowski

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature on the causes of and regulatory reactions to the financial crisis of the last decade, popularly known as the “Global Financial Crisis (GFC)” or the “Housing Crisis” in the USA. Design/methodology/approach This review primarily focuses on the four main causes of the crisis, namely, excessive household leverage, securitization, corporate governance and credit ratings. The main reaction vis-à-vis recovery measures taken by most governments were quantitative easing (QE), bailouts and more stringent regulations of banks, though the discussion mainly focuses on QE. Findings In this paper, the authors summarize the literature on the causes and regulatory reactions to the GFC and propose future avenues of research for various topics. Originality/value Research on the GFC spans multiple disciplines as well as multiple facets of financial economics. A review paper such as this should help future researchers in generating ideas and gathering information for their research. Given that no review uncovers all worthy papers, the authors apologize in advance to the authors of any papers that the authors have inadvertently not reviewed in this paper.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-566
Author(s):  
Quoc Trung Tran

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how the global financial crisis affects the relationship between uncertainty avoidance culture and corporate cash holdings. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a research model in which cash holdings ratio is a function of post-crisis period dummy, Hofstede’s cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance, their interactive term and control variables. The research sample includes 188,264 observations from 26,509 firms incorporated in 44 countries between 2003 and 2016. Findings This study finds that the effect of uncertainty avoidance culture on firm cash holdings is stronger in the post-crisis period from 2008 to 2016. This effect is stronger for financially constrained firms. In addition, the research findings show that uncertainty avoidance culture is more effective in cash–cash flow sensitivity over the post-crisis period. Originality/value Prior studies show that uncertainty avoidance culture positively affects corporate cash reserves. However, the authors only examine the effect of uncertainty avoidance culture on cash holdings in a static environment. This paper investigates this effect under the impact of the global financial crisis – an exogenous shock.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quynh Nga Nguyen Thi ◽  
Quoc Trung Tran ◽  
Hong Phat Doan

PurposeThis paper investigates how the global financial crisis changes the effects of state ownership and foreign ownership on corporate cash holdings in an emerging market.Design/methodology/approachWe employ an interactive term between state ownership (foreign ownership) and a crisis dummy to analyze how the global financial crisis determines the effect of state ownership (foreign ownership) on corporate cash holdings.FindingsWith a research sample including 5,493 observations from 621 listed firms over the period 2007–2017, we find that state ownership (foreign ownership) is negatively (positively) related to corporate cash holdings and the effect of state ownership (foreign ownership) is stronger (weaker) during the crisis period. Moreover, the increase in the effect of state ownership is larger in financially unconstrained firms.Originality/valuePrior research shows that the effects of state ownership and foreign ownership on corporate cash holdings in emerging markets are still debatable. This paper extends this line of research by investigating how the global financial crisis – an exogenous shock – changes these effects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Romi Jain ◽  
Joseph Tse-Hei Lee

Purpose This introductory essay historicizes the evolution of China’s geopolitical strategy from the Maoist era (1949–1976) to the present. It examines the Chinese strategic thinking in four spatial settings: Eurasia, maritime Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the wider Indo-Pacific region. The Chinese strategic concerns are comparable across these regions, but the ability to pursue security interests is contingent on many circumstantial factors. This study refers to some snapshots of the ongoing regional disputes to discuss the continuities and breakpoints in China’s strategic outreach in a multipolar world. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on the scholarly literature and policy papers to examine the interrelated forces that shape China’s rise to regional dominance: how Beijing has co-opted a series of global and regional crises for its rise to domination; how China, the USA and neighbouring countries have adjusted and adapted to a new changing international order; and how major powers in littoral and maritime Asia respond to an increasingly assertive Chinese state. Findings This study documents the combination of smart, soft and sharp power that China has deployed, since the global financial crisis of 2008, to enforce its dominance against the USA across the Pacific Rim and Eurasia. It argues that General Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyXi Jinping initially launched the Belt and Road Initiative to respond to former US President Barak Obama’s policy of rebalancing Asia, and he has expanded these expansionary projects to counter US President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine, thereby asserting Chinese influence abroad and tightening control against discontented populations at home. Research limitations/implications Many Western policy analysts are wondering whether a rising China will be a “status quo” state or a revisionist state that attempts to challenge the existing world order. The lack of clarification from Beijing has prompted Washington to shift from a longstanding strategy of diplomatic engagement to that of geostrategic containment to balance against China. Originality/value The strategic goals of China in the early 21st century pertain to security reassurance, access to energy resources and national image building. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, China has become immensely confident of its own socio-economic accomplishments and scornful of what it perceives as an American conspiracy to undermine its rise to power. Following in the footsteps of the USA in the post-Second World War era, Japan in the 1980s and Taiwan in the 1990s, Beijing has used international commercial activities and business contracts to achieve specific political, strategic and diplomatic objectives.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanjot Singh ◽  
Manjit Singh

Purpose This paper aims to attempt to capture the co-movement of the Indian equity market with some of the major economic giants such as the USA, Europe, Japan and China after the occurrence of global financial crisis in a multivariate framework. Apart from these cross-country co-movements, the study also captures an intertemporal risk-return relationship in the Indian equity market, considering the covariance of the Indian equity market with the other countries as well. Design/methodology/approach To account for dynamic correlation coefficients and risk-return dynamics, vector autoregressive (1) dynamic conditional correlation–asymmetric generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic model in a multivariate framework and exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic model in mean with covariances as explanatory variables are used. For an in-depth analysis, Markov regime switching model and optimal hedging ratios and weights are also computed. The span of data ranges from August 10, 2010 to August 7, 2015, especially after the global financial crisis. Findings The Indian equity market is not completely decoupled from mature markets as well as emerging market (China), but the time-varying correlation coefficients are on a downward spree after the global financial crisis, except for the US market. The Indian and Chinese equity markets witness a highest level of correlation with each other, followed by the European, US and Japanese markets. Both the optimal portfolio hedge ratios and portfolio weights with two asset classes point out toward portfolio risk minimization through the combination of the Indian and US equity market stocks from a US investor viewpoint. A negative co-movement between the Indian and US market increases the conditional expected returns in the Indian equity market. There is an insignificant but a negative relationship between the expected risk and returns. Practical implications The study provides an insight to the international as well as domestic investors and supports the construction of cross-country portfolios and risk management especially after the occurrence of global financial crisis. Originality/value The present study contributes to the literature in three senses. First, the period relates to the events after the global financial crisis (2007-2009). Second, the study examines the co-movement of the Indian equity market with four major economic giants such as the USA, Europe, Japan and China in a multivariate framework. These economic giants are excessively following the easy money policies aftermath the financial crisis so as to wriggle out of deflationary phases. Finally, the study captures risk-return relationship in the Indian equity market, considering its covariance with the international markets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Essi Eerola

Purpose The global financial crisis has led to increased attention on the relationship of household indebtedness and systemic risks. As a result, macroprudential measures aimed at reducing the risks have been introduced in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to review the recent empirical literature on the measures targeted at households in the housing markets. Design/methodology/approach This note reviews and discusses the recent empirical literature on macroprudential measures targeted at households in the housing market as well as housing-related tax policy measures. Findings To date, the literature mostly consists of cross-country studies using aggregate data and looking at a large set of different measures. The studies typically report associations between the measures and the outcome variables of interest (often credit growth and house price appreciation), but do not assess the causal effects of the different measures or the underlying mechanisms. Originality/value Exploiting household data together with policy reforms should be a useful step forward in understanding the effects of the measures and uncovering the mechanisms through which they operate. This would also allow studying the distributional effects of the measures. Understanding the distributional effects is important in its own right, but it is also required because the ultimate goals of the macroprudential policies are related not only to the aggregate level of credit but also to the distribution of leverage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darush Yazdanfar ◽  
Peter Öhman

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically investigate determinants of financial distress among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the global financial crisis and post-crisis periods.Design/methodology/approachSeveral statistical methods, including multiple binary logistic regression, were used to analyse a longitudinal cross-sectional panel data set of 3,865 Swedish SMEs operating in five industries over the 2008–2015 period.FindingsThe results suggest that financial distress is influenced by macroeconomic conditions (i.e. the global financial crisis) and, in particular, by various firm-specific characteristics (i.e. performance, financial leverage and financial distress in previous year). However, firm size and industry affiliation have no significant relationship with financial distress.Research limitationsDue to data availability, this study is limited to a sample of Swedish SMEs in five industries covering eight years. Further research could examine the generalizability of these findings by investigating other firms operating in other industries and other countries.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine determinants of financial distress among SMEs operating in Sweden using data from a large-scale longitudinal cross-sectional database.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Salman Saleh ◽  
Enver Halili ◽  
Rami Zeitun ◽  
Ruhul Salim

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the financial performance of listed firms on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) over two sample periods (1998-2007 and 2008-2010) before and during the global financial crisis periods. Design/methodology/approach The generalized method of moments (GMM) has been used to examine the relationship between family ownership and a firm’s performance during the financial crisis period, reflecting on the higher risk exposure associated with capital markets. Findings Applying firm-based measures of financial performance (ROA and ROE), the empirical results show that family firms with ownership concentration performed better than nonfamily firms with dispersed ownership structures. The results also show that ownership concentration has a positive and significant impact on family- and nonfamily-owned firms during the crisis period. In addition, financial leverage had a positive and significant effect on the performance of Australian family-owned firms during both periods. However, if the impact of the crisis by sector is taking into account, the financial leverage only becomes significant for the nonmining family firms during the pre-crisis period. The results also reveal that family businesses are risk-averse business organizations. These findings are consistent with the underlying economic theories. Originality/value This paper contributes to the debate whether the ownership structure affects firms’ financial performance such as ROE and ROA during the global financial crisis by investigating family and nonfamily firms listed on the Australian capital market. It also identifies several influential drivers of financial performance in both normal and crisis periods. Given the paucity of studies in the area of family business, the empirical results of this research provide useful information for researchers, practitioners and investors, who are operating in capital markets for family and nonfamily businesses.


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