Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in Economics

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Walter J. Mayer

Second Advisor

Matthew D. Hill

Third Advisor

Joshua R. Hendrickson

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

This paper examines how monetary policy influences the housing market in U.S. with a special emphasis on the recent financial crisis dating from 2007, which started from the burst of bubbles in the housing market. Using monthly U.S. data spanning over the period from January 2000 to July 2011, I estimate Vector Auto-regressive(VAR) models using data for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) to analyze the interaction between local housing markets and monetary policy. Aggregate responses of housing variables to monetary policy are also estimated by adopting composite data. Empirical results show that employment and housing price index both respond negatively to a positive monetary policy shock; while the significance and magnitude of the influence varies across MSAs. Compared to the aggregate effects, monetary policy is more likely to be effective in the west and the east, namely, California and Florida, and is more likely to be ineffective in the middle states, namely, Texas. The regional asymmetry in the efficacy of monetary policy could be resulted by various sources, like industry composition, housing supply elasticities, and credit condition.

Included in

Economics Commons

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