Macro-Prudential Approaches to Banking Regulation: Perspectives of Selected Asian Central Banks

New lessons, challenges, and debates have emerged from the subprime crisis in the United States. While the macroeconomic orientation is not new and has always been among the classic toolkits of central banks for ensuring financial stability, the current explicit articulation and specification of such a tool as a global standard is new. The objective of this study is to review and analyze the steps taken by the central banks and monetary authorities of select Asian countries to strengthen their prudential regulations, mainly the macro-prudential component of such regulations

Determinants of House Prices in Nine Asia-Pacific Economies

The paper investigates the characteristics of house price dynamics and the role of institutional factors in nine Asia-Pacific economies during 1993–2006. On average, house prices tend to be more volatile in markets with lower supply elasticity and a more flexible business environment. At the national level, the current run-up in house prices mainly reflects adjustment to improved fundamentals rather than speculative housing bubbles. However, evidence of bubbles does exist in some market segments.