The Blackwell Companion to the Economics of Housing The Housing Wealth of Nations

The Blackwell Companion to the Economics of Housing will help students and professionals alike to explore key elements of the housing economy: home prices, housing wealth, mortgage debt, and financial risk. Features 24 original essays, including an editorial introduction and three section overviews Includes 39 world-class authors from a mix of educational and financial organizations in the UK, Europe, Australia, and North America Broadly-based, scholarly and accessible, serving students and professionals who wish to understand how today's housing economy works Profiles the role and relevance housing wealth; the janus face of mortgage debt; and the pitfalls and potential of hedging housing risk Key topics include: the housing price bubble and crash; the subprime mortgage crisis in the US and its aftermath; the links between housing wealth, the macroeconomy, and the welfare of home-occupiers; the mitigation of credit and housing investment risks Specific case studies help to illustrate concepts, along with new data sets and analyses to illustrate empirical points

Susan J. Smith is Mistress of Girton College Cambridge. She was previously Professor of Geography and a Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University. She is a graduate of Oxford University (MA, DPhil), a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the Society of Authors. Professor Smith has published over 100 scholarly papers covering topics that range from residential segregation to health discrimination, from mortgage equity withdrawal to spread-betting on home price dynamics. Her books include Housing & Social Policy (1990), Housing for Health (2000), The Politics of Race and Residence (1989), and Children at Risk (1995). She is Editor-in-chief of the forthcoming International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home (2012) and has written a variety of press articles on home prices and housing markets.

Beverley A. Searle is a Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University. She gained a PhD in 2005 from the University of York. Her research interest focuses on housing wealth and households' welfare and well-being. She is author of Well-being: In Search of a Good Life? (2008).