Housing Markets and Housing Institutions: An International Comparison Book

It is difficult to make international comparisons of economic institutions and government policies due to regional characteristics of the local environment. This is particularly true in comparative analysis of housing and the operation of housing markets. This book overcomes such difficulties by focusing on single cities or metropolitan areas within national systems. The countries selected include Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S.; the metropolitan areas that form the base of the analyses include Vienna, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Budapest, Stockholm, Glasgow, and San Francisco. Each article, written by a group of economists and economic geographers based in a university in a particular city, presents a description and analysis of a national housing market and an analysis of the development of housing policy and outcomes in a particular metropolitan area. The articles also include a detailed review of the spatial development of the major city, the operation of the housing market and the pattern of housing occupancy, and the principal institutions that affect the production and distribution of housing.