Government L and Regulations and Housing Supply Elasticity in Urban China

This paper studies the effects of government land regulations(GLR)on housing supply elasticity in urban China.We first extend the theoretical framework of Saiz(2010),then use land transaction microdata,satellite-generated data,and the construction of instrumental variables to analyze the marginal effect of GLR,and finally calculate the housing supply elasticity caused by GLR.Our analysis finds that GLR is an important reason for the overall inelasticity of housing supply in 272 Chinese cities,which reduces housing supply elasticity from 1.457(elastic)to 0.872(inelastic).Housing supply elasticity caused by GLR has declined the most in first-tier cities and the eastern regions.The marginal effect of land use regulation is greater than that of land allocation and supp!y regulations.The initial development level and natural geographic constraint of each city also matter in China's housing supply market.

What do we know about housing supply?The case of Hong Kong SAR

The house price in the Hong Kong SAR of China is well-known to be‘unaffordable’.This paper relates the macroeconomy with the housing market of Hong Kong and argues that the housing supply plays a vital role in explaining the phenomenon.This paper also shows that there are some practical challenges in understanding the housing supply of Hong Kong,including the potentially complicated ownership structure of real estate development.While the discussion centres on the situation of Hong Kong,its lesson may also apply to housing markets in other small open economies.

Crowding-in or Crowding-out:How Infrastructure Investment Affects Household Consumption

This paper constructs a dynamic model of household consumption decisions and accordingly designs empirical analyses to identify how infrastructure investment affects private consumption.The estimation results of provincial panel data reveal that infrastructure investment can not only indirectly promote household consumption through the income channel but also directly promote household consumption expansion through the expectations channel,with a significant"crowding-in"effect.However,the effect is significantly weaker in provinces with a lower housing supply elasticity,showing the"crowding-out"pattern through the wealth channel.Household survey data provide an explanation for individual heterogeneity.Infrastructure investment has a greater pushing effect on house prices in provinces with a lower housing supply elasticity.Rapid house price growth has significant"crowding-out"effects on the consumption of wealthy households.This not only significantly weakens the driving effect of infrastructure investment on aggregate household consumption,but also increases wealth inequality in the long term.This paper explains how infrastructure investment affects household consumption and the corresponding role played by house prices,providing empirical evidences for theoretical studies related to macro-regulatory policies in China.

Cultural similarities and housing market linkage： evidence from OECD countries

The subprime crisis provoked a growing study on international housing market linkage. Nevertheless, the extant literature fails to explore housing price co-movements in terms of culture and a country＇s responses （e.g. housing market conditions and government participation）. Employing the databases on cultural similarities, housing market conditions and government participation in 18 OECD countries over 1970-2016, this article suggests that culture similarities affect house price co-movements via information dissemination efficiency and investment conduct consistency. In addition, housing supply elasticity and government participation are able to mitigate house price contagion. Hence, to withstand external shocks, countries should pay attention to the role of cultural similarities in housing price interdependence. Moreover, it is necessary to ensure that housing supply is resilient and improve government participation.