Wednesday, September 7
The Opportunity Cost of the Status Quo on Housing
Speaker Slides: Richard Green
Further Reading
- Toward An Urban Housing Strategy
- This essay examines the development of housing strategies for low and moderate-income countries by framing a set of six questions, attempting to answer those questions, considering the policy implications of the answers, and developing strategies for dealing with those implications.
Urbanization, Housing Construction, and the Development of National Capital Stocks
Speaker Slides: J. Vernon Henderson
Further Reading
- Henderson, J Vernon, Mark Roberts, and Adam Storeygard. Is Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa Different? The World Bank, 2013.
- When viewed from the perspective of effective technology, as suggested in endogenous growth frameworks (and as proxied by educational attainment), the African urbanization experience overall matches global patterns. There are differences, however, at the sector level.
- Henderson, J Vernon, Dzhamilya Nigmatulina, and Sebastian Kriticos. "Measuring Urban Economic Density." Journal of Urban Economics 125 (2021): 103188.
- Agglomeration economies are at the heart of urban economics, driving the existence and extent of cities and are central to structural transformation and the urbanization process. This paper evaluates the use of different measures of economic density in assessing urban agglomeration effects, by examining how well they explain household income differences across cities and neighborhoods in six African countries.
- Henderson, J Vernon, Tanner Regan, and Anthony J Venables. "Building the City: From Slums to a Modern Metropolis." The Review of Economic Studies 88, no. 3 (2021): 1157-92.
- We model the building of a city, estimate parameters of the model, and calculate welfare losses from institutional frictions encountered in changing land-use. We distinguish formal and slum construction technologies; in contrast to slums, formal structures can be built tall, are durable, and nonmalleable. As the city grows areas are initially developed informally, then formally, and then redeveloped periodically.
- Henderson, J Vernon, Adam Storeygard, and David N Weil. "Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space." The American Economic Review 102, no. 2 (2012): 994.
- GDP growth is often measured poorly for countries and rarely measured at all for cities or subnational regions. We propose a readily available proxy: satellite data on lights at night.
- Henderson, J Vernon, and Matthew A Turner. "Urbanization in the Developing World: Too Early or Too Slow?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 34, no. 3 (2020): 150-73.
- The global frontier of rising urbanization is sub-Saharan Africa (urbanization rate of 40 percent, annual growth rate of 1.4 percent), South Asia (urbanization rate of 36 percent, annual growth rate of 1.2 percent) and South-East Asia (urbanization rate of 49 percent, annual growth rate of 1.3 percent). Urbanization in these regions, and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular, will be the focus of much of our attention.
The Elephant in the Room: Housing is an Important Economic Sector
Panelist Slides
Further Reading
- Cornerstone of Recovery: How Housing Can Help Emerging Market Economies Rebound from COVID-19
- This report documents housing’s true contribution to gross domestic product by analyzing 11 emerging market countries, where evidence on the total size of housing investments is often lacking. It explores the potential underestimation of the housing sector by official statistics and examines whether the housing sector could support economic recovery while creating safer, healthier housing for low-income households. The report offers inclusive housing proposals for the public and private sector to respond to COVID-19.
- A ladder up: The role of the construction sector in creating jobs and rebuilding emerging market economies
- This 2021 report explores the role of the construction sector in creating jobs and rebuilding emerging market economies in nine countries: Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Uganda.
Wrap Up
Speaker Slides: Maisy Wong
Thursday, September 8
How to Build a Fair and Efficient Housing Market
Panelist Slides
Further Reading
- Order Without Design
- Acclaimed urbanist Alain Bertaud distills lessons from more than half a century of practical and analytical work in dozens of cities ranging from New York and Paris, to Sana’a and Port-au-Prince. Transport, land and housing, labor markets, urban form, and the proper role of urban planning are covered concisely, yet in depth.
Scaling Housing Production Requires Finance
Panelist Slides
Further Reading
- HOFINET: Housing Finance Information Network
- HOFINET is a quality-assured web portal that consolidates regularly updated international housing finance knowledge in one central, easily accessible place. Extensive resources are available by topic and country.
Measuring Housing’s Impact Requires Data
Panelist Slides
Further Reading
- Center for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa: Housing and the Economy.
- Description: Residential property is the largest and most differentiated asset within any country, and a significant part of a nation’s economy, especially insofar as it relates to household wealth, livelihoods, and the prospect of inclusive growth. As the property market grows and develops, housing can be an instrument of economic transformation, with property values growing faster than inflation and offering leapfrog opportunities to lower income households as they benefit from the appreciation of their housing asset.
- World Bank Policy Research working paper: "Urbanization and housing investment." Dasgupta, Basab, Somik V. Lall, and Nancy-Lozano Gracia. 2014.
- Description: This paper provides the a recent systematic empirical assessment of the pace at which housing investment has responded to rising demand from urbanization.
- Eurostat Review on National Accounts and Macroeconomic Statistics Indicators (EURONA). “How to measure hedonic residential property price indices better,” Silver, Mick. 2018. 1: 35 –66.
- Description: Hedonic regressions are used for residential property price index (RPPI) measurement to control for changes in the quality-mix of properties transacted. This paper consolidates the confusing array of existing approaches and methods of implementation
- Jobs and Distributive Effects of Infrastructure Investment: The Case of Argentina
- This paper assesses the short-term job generation potential of infrastructure investments in Argentina. The analysis is based on a 2017 Input-Output model with a breakdown of the construction sector into multiple infrastructure subsectors.
- Urban Land and Housing Market Assessment: A Toolkit
- This Toolkit aims to assist practitioners in undertaking a standard upstream diagnosis to inform policies and programs in the housing sector at the city level in developing countries, with a focus on the supply side.
Wrap Up
Speaker Slides: Stephen Malpezzi
General Background
- Real Estate and Urban Development Viewpoint
- This blog provides discussion and resource links for a wide range of urban topics, including housing markets and policies, finance, rent controls and other regulations, and how current events affect cities and housing markets.
- Economic Analysis of Housing Markets in Developing and Transition Economies, Stephen Malpezzi.
- A thorough treatment of the 20th-century literature on housing markets and policy.
- A thorough treatment of the 20th-century literature on housing markets and policy.
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