Economic Slowdown and Housing Dynamics in China: A Tale of Two Investments by Firms

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
Year: 2022
Volume: 54
Issue: 6
Pages: 1839-1874

Authors (4)

FENG DONG (not in RePEc) YUMEI GUO (not in RePEc) YUCHAO PENG (not in RePEc) ZHIWEI XU (Fudan University)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We study the housing boom and economic slowdown in China in a dynamic New Keynesian model. The model features a novel channel of firms' dynamic portfolio choice between physical and housing investment. Housing assets earn a positive return and can be used as collateral for the firm's external finances. A negative productivity shock decreases the relative return of production capital, which translates into a housing boom by increasing the firm's housing demand. A rise in house prices then generates competing effects on real investment: it raises the firm's leverage due to the collateral effect and depresses the firm's demand for physical capital because of the crowding‐out effect. After calibrating the model for the Chinese economy, our quantitative exercise suggests the former effect is dominated by the latter, resulting in countercyclical housing prices. The policy analysis shows that the capital subsidization policy targeting house prices performs better than other macro‐economic policies.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:jmoncb:v:54:y:2022:i:6:p:1839-1874
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-29