Urbanisation in China has long been held back by various restrictions on land and internal migration but has taken off since the 1990s, as these impediments started to be gradually relaxed. People have moved in large numbers to richer cities, where productivity is higher and has increased...

Poor growth performance over the past decades in Europe has increased concerns for rising income dispersion and social exclusion. European authorities have recently launched the Europe 2020 strategy which aims to improve social inclusion in Europe on top of already existing European regional...

A well-functioning housing market is essential for economic prosperity and well-being. A combination of favourable economic and financial conditions and tight housing supply led to sharp increases in real house prices between the mid-1990s and end 2007, which spurred household consumption. While...

Les politiques du logement en France visent à satisfaire plusieurs objectifs. Il s’agit en premier lieu d’assurer à chacun un logement qui corresponde à ses besoins et à ses capacités financières. Le logement social, les aides au logement, les dispositifs d’aide à l’investissement...

Chile has made good progress in improving housing conditions, but still around 10% of the population lives in either overcrowded houses, or of inadequate quality and/or with poor access to basic services. Improving further housing conditions of the poor is important for curbing poverty and...

Israeli house prices have risen by over 50% over the past three years. In part this reflects the fact that for several years housing construction had not kept pace with increases in the number of households. In response to these developments, hitherto sluggish planning-approval processes are...

A considerable housing boom has been a key feature of persistently large saving-investment imbalances in New Zealand over the past decade. Wealth is concentrated to a greater extent in property compared to most other OECD countries, leaving households and the banking system heavily exposed to a...

In this paper we describe the main features of the French social housing system as viewed from abroad, and place it within the context of systems in other major developed countries, particularly in Europe. At 17% of the total stock the social sector in France is of similar scale to many other...

Housing plays a key role in the economy, because of its weight in household expenditures and assets, its importance for social well-being, and its impact on educational outcomes and employment as well as on the business cycle. Over the past half century, the bulk of the population has benefited...

Residential mobility is closely tied to housing market forces and has important implications for labour mobility and the efficient allocation of resources across the economy. This paper analyses patterns of residential mobility across OECD countries and the role of housing policies in enhancing...