The Japanese Asset Price Bubble: Evolvement and Consequences

Abstract

Asset price bubbles and deep financial crises have occurred frequently during the past three decades. It began with the Japanese stock and housing market in the eighties, the technology bubble in stock markets before the millennium, and the housing bubble in the US and other countries, just to name a few. Such a degree of financial instability with extreme economic and social costs is unusual in economic history. To be able to find measures and their optimal timing to protect against these events a deeper understanding of the causes, evolvement and consequences of asset price bubbles is needed. The aim of this paper is to contribute to an improvement of that understanding by analyzing the historical case of the Japanese asset price bubble on the housing and stock market. The added value of such an analysis may come from the availability of today´s research, experiences and econometric techniques.