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The term ´housing crisis´ has recently been associated with rising foreclosure rates and tottering financial institutions, particularly in the US and Europe. However, in many emerging countries, the housing crisis is about urban poverty, unplanned settlements, overcrowded slums and homelessness.

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1. Background and Overview PART I: WHY HOUSING FINANCE SYSTEMS MATTER 2. Affordable Housing 3. Market Failures PART II: REVIEW OF HOUSING POLICY INSTRUMENTS 4. Taxes and Subsidies 5. Housing Market Regulation 6. Regulation of Housing Finance 7. Housing Institutions 8. Public Private Partnerships PART III: HOUSING BUBBLES, CRASHES AND POLICY 9. From Housing Cycles to Financial Crises 10. Policy Response to Housing Booms PART IV: GOVERNMENT FAILURES 11. Unintended Consequences of Housing Policy 12. Regulatory Failure and Regulatory Capture PART V: COMPLEXITY AND RISKS 13. Smart Practices for Housing Finance Systems

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Sock-Yong Phang is Professor of Economics at the Singapore Management University and holds a visiting appointment at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She is also Senior Research Fellow at the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics as well as a Commission Member of the Competition Commission of Singapore. She has spent most of her career studying and writing about housing and transportation economics.

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