1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910817533603321

Autore

Crowe Christopher

Titolo

Irrational Exuberance in the U.S. Housing Market : : Were Evangelicals Left Behind? / / Christopher Crowe

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Washington, D.C. : , : International Monetary Fund, , 2009

ISBN

1-4623-4064-4

1-4527-2081-9

1-4518-7204-6

1-282-84278-1

9786612842788

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (32 p.)

Collana

IMF Working Papers

Disciplina

339.4859

Soggetti

Housing - Prices - United States

Evangelicalism

Economics - Religious aspects - Christianity

Actuarial Studies

Asset bubbles

Cultural Economics: Religion

Demographic Economics: General

Demography

Economic & financial crises & disasters

Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis

Financial Crises

Financial crises

Financial institutions

Financial Risk Management

Housing prices

Housing Supply and Markets

Housing

Infrastructure

Insurance & actuarial studies

Insurance Companies

Insurance

Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics: Consumption

National accounts

Population & demography



Population and demographics

Population

Prices

Property & real estate

Real Estate

Saving and investment

Saving

Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics: Housing Demand

Wealth

United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"March 2009".

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; I. Introduction; Figures; 1. House Price Volatility and Evangelical Population; 2. Average House Price Growth; II. Evangelicals and House Price Volatility; A. Empirical Specification and Results; Tables; 1. Descriptive Statistics; B. Discussion; 2. Regression Results; III. 9/11 Event Study; IV. Panel Study; A. Model and Predictions; 3. Quarterly House Price Growth and Share of Evangelicals; 4. The Rapture Index and Subcategories; B. Data and Empirical Strategy; 5. The Rapture Index; C. Results and Discussion; 3. Descriptive Statistics; 4. Regression Results

V. End Times Beliefs and Asset Holdings5. Counterfactual Exercise; 6. Regression Results; VI. Conclusions; References; Appendix I. Data Descriptions and Sources

Sommario/riassunto

The recent housing bust has reignited interest in psychological theories of speculative excess (Shiller, 2007). I investigate this issue by identifying a segment of the U.S. population-evangelical protestants-that may be less prone to speculative motives, and uncover a significant negative relationship between their population share and house price volatility. Evangelicals' focus on Biblical prophecy could account for this difference, since it may enable them to interpret otherwise negative events as containing positive news, dampening the response of house prices to shocks. I provide evidence for this channel using a popular internet measure of "prophetic activity" and a 9/11 event study. I also analyze survey data covering religious beliefs and asset holding, and find that 'end times' beliefs are associated with a one-third decline in net worth, consistent with these beliefs providing a form of psychic insurance (Scheve and Stasavage, 2006a and 2006b) that reduces asset demand.