What Drives Asset and Housing Markets? – Deutsche Bundesbank and ZEW

In the recent past, developments in asset and housing markets have attracted a lot of attention. Economic policy, including monetary policy and financial supervision, has been confronted with several challenges resulting from this turmoil. The conference aims to shed more light on the reasons for these developments and their implications, and, in particular, on whether there are fundamental differences between these markets, and how these markets interact. Particular topics are:

• Which models are appropriate for valuing assets in "classical" financial markets and real estate investment or housing markets? What are the fundamental factors and how can we identify bubbles? What role is played by institutional settings, such as legal and tax frameworks, the organisation of the financial industry or the relevance of institutional investors? Can these factors explain differences between developments in individual countries?
• What are the relationships between the different financial markets? For example, do we see specific dynamic patterns? Are these relationships different in "normal" periods and in periods of turmoil? Have international spillovers become more important and what are the reasons for this?
• What are the implications of these developments for the financial sector and the real economy? What lessons have to be drawn for monetary policy, supervisory authorities and institutional settings? Has monetary policy encouraged these developments or should it have responded earlier to possible bubbles? How important are moral hazard problems as a consequence of the responses of the various authorities?

Programme (Last update 17.10.2008), (as PDF file, 57 KB)