Housing and Household finance

​The role of the housing market and household indebtedness in affecting financial stability and the wider economy is at the forefront of discussions in policy institutions and in academia. The purchase of a home is the largest investment most individuals make during their lifetime and changes in households’ home equity may have distributional consequences. Much ground is not covered and key questions remain unanswered regarding the role housing plays in the macroeconomy. Access to large and detailed micro data may sharpen our understanding of these issues.

This workshop aims to bring together researchers working on housing and household finance to improve our understanding of the interaction between housing markets and the real economy, challenges high household debt pose for financial stability and possible distributional consequences of policies aimed at stabilizing house price inflation and credit growth. Of special interest are papers using micro data or disaggregated regional macro data.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Atif Mian (Princeton University)
Luigi Guiso (Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance and Centre for Economic Policy Research)
Susan Wachter (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)