Summary/Review:
This book focuses on an issue which has not been seriously taken up in the literature, that is the role of real estate in Asia's financial crisis. As the editors point out in the introductory chapter, the real estate boom in Asia has been mentioned as a factor in the financial crisis, but no specific analyses or policy recommendations for improving the performance of this sector have been provided. The editors maintain that the real estate sector deserves much more attention by policy makers and analysts than it is getting now.
In this book, the relationship between the real estate sector and the financial crisis in Asia is closely examined. Specifically the following questions are asked and being answered in various chapters: To what extent did the real estate boom contribute to the financial collapse of the countries affected? How can we improve the efficiency of the real estate sector? And what role should the government play in improving the functioning of the real estate sector?
One conclusion of this book is that there should be significant improvement in the real estate sector in order to prevent the crisis from recurring in the future. On the other hand, selective real estate investment in housing may well help revive the economy in the aftermath of the crisis. While the editors are optimistic about most Asian economies which they say will come out of the financial crisis more flexible and more resilient to internal and external shocks, they doubt if Japan is able to reform its long-established public and private governance arrangements affecting the real estate market in the near future.
The following is a list of chapters and authors in the book:
Chapter 1. Introduction (Koichi Mera and Bertrand Renaud)
Chapter 2. Land Prices Ascent and Government Response in Japan (Koichi Mera)
Chapter 3. Japanse Land Prices: Explaining the Boom-Bust Cycle (Robert H. Edelstein and Jean-Michel Paul)
Chapter 4. The Linkage of the Economy with Land Price Fluctuations: The Case of Japan in the 1990s (Koichi Mera)
Chapter 5. Korea: Could a Real Estate Price Bubble Have Caused the Economic Crisis? (Kyung-Hwan Kim)
Chapter 6. The Sticky Land Price in Taiwan: Its Causes, Effects, and Future (Chang-I Hua)
Chapter 7. Hong Kong: Overcoming Financial Risks of Growing Real Estate Credit (Yuming Fu)
Chapter 8. China: A Real Estate Boom in Protected Transition Economy (Raymond Y.C. Tse)
Chapter 9. How Real Estate Contributed to the Thailand Financial Crisis (Bertrand Renaud)
Chapter 10. Singapore: Containing the Real Estate Boom (David Ho K. H. and Javier C. Cuervo)
Chapter 11. Indonesia's Real Estate Disturbance: An Ineluctable Outcome (Dominique Fischer)
Chapter 12. Housing as a Tool for Reviving the Crisis-Hit Economies in Southeast Asia (Koichi Mera and Eric J. Heikkila)
Chapter 13. Real Estate Cycles and Banking Crises in Asia:What Have We Learned? (Bertrand Renaud)
Chapter 14. Conclusion: Toward Efficiency and Stability in Asian Real Estate Markets (Koichi Mera and Bertrand Renaud)
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