2/1/2015: Monetary Policy and Property Bubbles

Returning again to the issue of lender/funder liability in triggering asset price bubbles (see more on this here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2015/01/112015-share-liability-debtor-and-lender.html), CEPR Discussion Paper "Betting the House" (see
http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=10305) by Òscar Jordà, Moritz Schularick, Alan M. Taylor asks a question if there is "a link between loose monetary conditions, credit growth, house price booms, and financial instability?"

The authors look into "the role of interest rates and credit in driving house price booms and busts with data spanning 140 years of modern economic history in the advanced economies. We exploit the implications of the macroeconomic policy trilemma to identify exogenous variation in monetary conditions: countries with fixed exchange regimes often see fluctuations in short-term interest rates unrelated to home economic conditions."

Do note: Ireland and the rest of euro periphery are the prime examples of this specific case.

The authors find that "…loose monetary conditions lead to booms in real estate lending and house prices bubbles; these, in turn, materially heighten the risk of financial crises. Both effects have become stronger in the postwar era."

So let's give the ECB a call…