Although Japan and the United States are the world's leading economies,
there are significant differences in the ways their wealth is translated
into living standards. A careful comparison of housing markets
illustrates not only how living standards in the two countries differ,
but also reveals much about saving patterns and how they affect wealth
accumulation.
In this volume, ten essays discuss the evolution of housing prices,
housing markets and personal savings, housing finance, commuting, and
the impact of public policy on housing markets. The studies reveal
surprising differences in housing investment in the two countries. For
example, because down payments in Japan are much higher than in the
United States, Japanese tend to delay home purchases relative to their
American counterparts. In the United States, the advent of home equity
credit may have reduced private saving overall.
This book is the first comparison of housing markets in Japan and the
United States, and its findings illuminate the effects of housing
markets on productivity growth, business investment, and trade.