Resilient Neoliberalism? Coping with Housing Booms and Busts on Europe's Periphery

Historically, major economic crises have also always been turning points for policy paradigms. Crises were moments for critical choices, when established paradigms collapsed, and alternatives were tested. In this respect, the Great Recession seems to differ. A growing literature tries to grapple with the surprising resilience of neoliberalism even after its spectacular failure as manifested in the financial crisis. The paper seeks to contribute to the debate on economic crisis, policy change, and the resilience of neoliberalism by comparing the policy responses of a selected group of peripheral European countries (East and West). Looking at recent reforms targeting indebted house owners and the housing regime, as well as the financial sector, we identify two policy responses to the Great Recession. Some countries (Ireland and Estonia) have embraced neoliberalism either enthusiastically or at least without much debate, while others have others have rejected neoliberal solutions (Iceland and Hungary). The paper gives evidence of the similar built-up of the crises and the different policy responses