Ceny mieszkań podczas pandemii COVID-19: spostrzeżenia ze Szwecji

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major global economic recession, to which policymakers around the world responded with massive fiscal and monetary support. While housing prices generally fall during economic downturns, they have risen during the pandemic in all OECD countries. A number of factors may have contributed, including expansionary monetary policy, the lifting of some macro-prudential constraints and a shift in housing preferences. This paper uses monthly data to examine the behaviour of real house and flat prices during the pandemic in Sweden, at the national level and in the three biggest cities. While a model containing usual determinants of housing prices tracked price developments well before the pandemic, it underestimates house prices and generally overestimates flat prices in the pandemic period. This suggests a preference shift from flats towards houses, which is consistent with findings from the recent literature on other countries. The introduction of mortgage amortisation requirements in 2016 and 2018 is estimated to have lowered housing prices. However, their lifting during the pandemic seems to have had a relatively minor effect on housing prices.Pandemia COVID-19 wywołała poważną globalną recesję gospodarczą, na którą decydenci na całym świecie zareagowali, udzielając ogromnego wsparcia fiskalnego i monetarnego. Podczas gdy ceny mieszkań zazwyczaj spadają w okresach spowolnienia gospodarczego, w czasie pandemii wzrosły we wszystkich krajach OECD. Przyczyniło się do tego wiele czynników, w tym ekspansywna polityka pieniężna, zniesienie niektórych ograniczeń makroostrożnościowych oraz zmiana preferencji mieszkaniowych. W niniejszym opracowaniu wykorzystano dane miesięczne do zbadania zachowania rzeczywistych cen domów i mieszkań w czasie pandemii w Szwecji, na poziomie krajowym i w trzech największych miastach. Podczas gdy model zawierający typowe determinanty cen mieszkań śledzi zmiany cen na długo przed pandemią, to w okresie pandemii zaniża on ceny domów i generalnie zawyża ceny mieszkań. Sugeruje to przesunięcie preferencji z mieszkań w kierunku domów, co jest zgodne z ustaleniami z najnowszej literatury dotyczącej innych krajów. Szacuje się, że wprowadzenie wymogów dotyczących amortyzacji kredytów hipotecznych w latach 2016 i 2018 obniżyło ceny mieszkań. Wydaje się jednak, że ich zniesienie w czasie pandemii miało stosunkowo niewielki wpływ na ceny mieszkań

Product Market Regulation and Competition in China

The extent of competition in product markets is an important determinant of economic growth in both developed and developing countries. This paper uses the 2008 vintage of the OECD indicators of product market regulation to assess the extent to which China’s regulatory environment is supportive of competition in markets for goods and services. The results indicate that, although competition is increasingly robust across most markets, the overall level of product market regulation is still restrictive in international comparison. These impediments to competition are likely to constrain economic growth as the Chinese economy continues to develop and becomes more sophisticated. The paper goes on to review various aspects of China’s regulatory framework and suggests a number of policy initiatives that would improve the extent to which competitive market forces are able to operate. Breaking the traditional links between state-owned enterprises and government agencies is an ongoing challenge. Reducing administrative burdens, increasing private sector involvement in network sectors and lowering barriers to foreign direct investment in services would also increase competition and enhance productivity growth going forward. Some of the reforms introduced by the Chinese government over the past two years go in this direction and should therefore help foster growth.

TGF-β Inducible Early Gene 1 Regulates Osteoclast Differentiation and Survival by Mediating the NFATc1, AKT, and MEK/ERK Signaling Pathways

TGF-β Inducible Early Gene-1 (TIEG1) is a Krüppel-like transcription factor (KLF10) that was originally cloned from human osteoblasts as an early response gene to TGF-β treatment. As reported previously, TIEG1−/− mice have decreased cortical bone thickness and vertebral bone volume and have increased spacing between the trabeculae in the femoral head relative to wildtype controls. Here, we have investigated the role of TIEG1 in osteoclasts to further determine their potential role in mediating this phenotype. We have found that TIEG1−/− osteoclast precursors differentiated more slowly compared to wildtype precursors in vitro and high RANKL doses are able to overcome this defect. We also discovered that TIEG1−/− precursors exhibit defective RANKL-induced phosphorylation and accumulation of NFATc1 and the NFATc1 target gene DC-STAMP. Higher RANKL concentrations reversed defective NFATc1 signaling and restored differentiation. After differentiation, wildtype osteoclasts underwent apoptosis more quickly than TIEG1−/− osteoclasts. We observed increased AKT and MEK/ERK signaling pathway activation in TIEG1−/− osteoclasts, consistent with the roles of these kinases in promoting osteoclast survival. Adenoviral delivery of TIEG1 (AdTIEG1) to TIEG1−/− cells reversed the RANKL-induced NFATc1 signaling defect in TIEG1−/− precursors and eliminated the differentiation and apoptosis defects. Suppression of TIEG1 with siRNA in wildtype cells reduced differentiation and NFATc1 activation. Together, these data provide evidence that TIEG1 controls osteoclast differentiation by reducing NFATc1 pathway activation and reduces osteoclast survival by suppressing AKT and MEK/ERK signaling

TIEG1/KLF10 Modulates Runx2 Expression and Activity in Osteoblasts

Deletion of TIEG1/KLF10 in mice results in a gender specific osteopenic skeletal phenotype with significant defects in both cortical and trabecular bone, which are observed only in female animals. Calvarial osteoblasts isolated from TIEG1 knockout (KO) mice display reduced expression levels of multiple bone related genes, including Runx2, and exhibit significant delays in their mineralization rates relative to wildtype controls. These data suggest that TIEG1 plays an important role in regulating Runx2 expression in bone and that decreased Runx2 expression in TIEG1 KO mice is in part responsible for the observed osteopenic phenotype. In this manuscript, data is presented demonstrating that over-expression of TIEG1 results in increased expression of Runx2 while repression of TIEG1 results in suppression of Runx2. Transient transfection and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays reveal that TIEG1 directly binds to and activates the Runx2 promoter. The zinc finger containing domain of TIEG1 is necessary for this regulation supporting that activation occurs through direct DNA binding. A role for the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway in fine tuning the regulation of Runx2 expression by TIEG1 is also implicated in this study. Additionally, the regulation of Runx2 expression by cytokines such as TGFβ1 and BMP2 is shown to be inhibited in the absence of TIEG1. Co-immunoprecipitation and co-localization assays indicate that TIEG1 protein associates with Runx2 protein resulting in co-activation of Runx2 transcriptional activity. Lastly, Runx2 adenoviral infection of TIEG1 KO calvarial osteoblasts leads to increased expression of Runx2 and enhancement of their ability to differentiate and mineralize in culture. Taken together, these data implicate an important role for TIEG1 in regulating the expression and activity of Runx2 in osteoblasts and suggest that decreased expression of Runx2 in TIEG1 KO mice contributes to the observed osteopenic bone phenotype

Improving Access and Quality in the Indian Education System

Education has been given high priority by India’s central and state governments and continues to grow fast. School access has been expanded by investment in school infrastructure and recruitment of teachers. In higher education too, the number of providers continues to rise rapidly. A new law enshrining the rights of all children to free and compulsory education will further lift enrolment, bringing closer the government’s goal of universal elementary education, which comprises eight years of schooling. Nevertheless, high drop-out rates and low attendance continues to be a challenge at lower levels and enrolment at higher levels remains modest by international standards. Private sector involvement is on the rise. While it helps expand education infrastructure, particularly in higher education, access has not always been assured and the availability of student loans for higher education needs to improve. Poor learning outcomes amongst school students and mediocre higher education provision call for more effective government regulation and funding arrangements. Expanding resources will help but they need to be deployed more effectively, while incentives and professional development systems for teachers need to be strengthened. In higher education the government has proposed reforms which have the potential to bring about much-needed improvements in regulatory effectiveness. Efforts should focus on reducing micro-regulation and improving institutional autonomy, in order to stimulate innovation and diversity. Increasing the number of institutions subjected to quality assessments will be important for lifting standards across the higher education system, while reform of recruitment and promotion mechanisms could help attract and retain talent in academia. Améliorer l'accès et la qualité du système éducatif indien L'éducation est l'une des grandes priorités des autorités indiennes, à l'échelon central et dans les États, et elle continue de se développer rapidement. L'accès à l'école a été élargi grâce à des investissements dans les infrastructures et au recrutement d'enseignants. Dans l'enseignement supérieur également, le nombre de prestataires continue d'augmenter à un rythme soutenu. Une nouvelle loi établissant le droit de tous les enfants à l'instruction gratuite et obligatoire va encore accroître les effectifs scolarisés dans le primaire et le premier cycle du secondaire, si bien que l'objectif de scolarisation élémentaire universelle que se sont fixé les autorités pourrait bientôt être atteint. Néanmoins, la fréquence des abandons en cours d'études et les faibles taux de fréquentation scolaire continuent de poser un problème aux niveaux inférieurs, tandis que les taux d'inscription aux niveaux supérieurs restent modestes par rapport aux normes internationales. Le secteur privé joue un rôle croissant. S'il est utile de développer les infrastructures, en particulier dans l'enseignement supérieur, l'accès aux études n'est pas toujours garanti et l'offre de prêts étudiants doit être étoffée. Les résultats insuffisants des écoliers et la qualité médiocre de l'enseignement supérieur appellent une amélioration de l'action publique et des mécanismes de financement. Augmenter les ressources est une bonne chose, mais il faudra les déployer de manière plus efficace et renforcer les systèmes d'incitations et de perfectionnement professionnel destinés aux enseignants. Dans l'enseignement supérieur, le gouvernement a proposé des réformes à même d'apporter des améliorations indispensables pour l'efficacité de la réglementation. Les efforts devraient viser avant tout à limiter la micro réglementation et à accroître l'autonomie des établissements afin de stimuler l'innovation et la diversité. Augmenter le nombre d'institutions soumises à des contrôles de qualité permettra de relever les normes dans l'ensemble du système d'enseignement supérieur, tandis qu'une réforme des modalités de recrutement et de promotion des enseignants devrait concourir à attirer et à retenir les talents dans les universités.human capital, tertiary education, education policy, universities, literacy, primary education, vocational education, India, secondary education, education spending, schools, dépenses d’éducation, formation professionnelle, Inde, études primaires, écoles, études secondaires, études tertiaires, capital humain, alphabétisation, université, politique d'éducation

Building a typology of housing systems to inform policies in OECD and EU member States

This article establishes a typology of housing systems in OECD and EU countries, using principal component and cluster analysis on housing market context and housing conditions variables from the new OECD Affordable Housing Database (AHD), as well as data on household indebtedness. We identify four groups among a sample of 25 countries, subsequently extended to 32, as countries for which a more limited set of information is available are added to the baseline analysis. A group named “Northern”, as it covers mainly Northern Europe, including Germany, features extended private rental and generally high household debt. A “Western” group, which includes France and the United Kingdom, has higher homeownership rates and more social housing. “Southern-Central” and “Eastern” groups gather European countries, where outright homeownership is prevalent, but housing conditions are poorer. Both the country coverage and the set of variables considered in this article are wider than in most previous studies and findings are broadly consistent with the comparative housing literature for the countries with overlapping coverage.André Christophe, Chalaux Thomas. Building a typology of housing systems to inform policies in OECD and EU member States. In: Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, n°500-502, 2018. Housing and housing markets. pp. 13-36

Why did so few refugees return to the Fukushima fallout-impacted region after remediation? An interdisciplinary case study from Iitate village, Japan

International audienceLarge volumes of radionuclides were deposited on the soils in Northeastern Japan after the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in March 2011. The village of Iitate, with a population of 6544 inhabitants in early 2011, was located in the main radioactive plume. Its population was evacuated between 2011 and 2017, when the town reopened after decontamination was completed in some cultivated and residential areas. This situation is unprecedented in history. Even around Chernobyl, access to the most contaminated area has remained forbidden until today. This manuscript compiles measurements of radiation dose rates and sediment radioactive contamination, socioeconomic statistics, and reports the results of interviews conducted among refugees since 2011. Despite this reopening, which was presented as desirable by the authorities, less than ten percent of the original population-almost all of them over 70 years oldhad returned to live in the village by January 2022. An analysis of the evolution of the population shows that it is now declining again. When the village was evacuated in 2011, most of the families that used to live with three generations under the same roof were often separated. The majority of the inhabitants took refuge in neighbouring municipalities, and many lived in temporary housing sites with a strong feeling of promiscuity. This study shows the difficulty for the majority of villagers who had never heard of Becquerels before the accident in 2011 to return to a very different environment with forests remaining contaminated and major landscape transformations having occurred after several years of abandonment and through the remediation process itself. Before 2011, forests and cropland were the main land uses in the village, and the local authorities promoted a model of eco-village. While decontamination has been effective in limiting the dispersion of radionuclides across the landscape, it did not affect the large stock of radionuclides stored in forests that cover ∼80% of the surface area. Moreover, the lack of facilities and public services remains problematic for an elderly population that has a limited mobility to travel to nearby towns to find the necessities of everyday life. This study provides a benchmark for comparison with the evolution of the seven other municipalities located nearby FDNPP that are being reopened to settlement. This research, which shows the situation after a remediation tentative, will provide a unique reference in post-accident management

Product Market Regulation and Economic Performance across Indian States

This paper uses the OECD's indicators of product market regulation to assess the extent to which the regulatory environment affects economic performance across Indian states. The degree to which product market regulation is supportive of competition is found to vary considerably across states. Furthermore, regression results indicate that these differences in regulation have a significant impact on both labour and total factor productivity. States in which the regulatory environment restricts competition have lower productivity growth in comparison to states in which regulation is more supportive of competition. Relatively liberal states are also found to attract more foreign investment and have a larger share of employment in the organised sector in comparison to states with a more restrictive regulatory environment. State governments that have enacted a relatively liberal regulatory framework have also been more successful at infrastructure provision. Ongoing reform of product market regulation is necessary to improve productivity growth further and ensure that the benefits of reform are distributed more widely across the country. This working Paper relates to the 2007 Economic Survey of India (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/india). Réglementation des marchés de produits et performances économiques dans les États de l'Union indienne Nous utilisons dans ce document les indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits (RMP) de l'OCDE pour évaluer les répercussions de l'environnement réglementaire sur les performances économiques des États de l'Union indienne. Nous parvenons à la conclusion que la mesure dans laquelle la réglementation des marchés de produits favorise la concurrence varie considérablement suivant les États. En outre, les résultats obtenus par analyse de régression indiquent que ces différences de réglementation ont un impact sensible tant sur la productivité de la main-d'oeuvre que sur la productivité totale des facteurs. Les États où l'environnement réglementaire restreint la concurrence enregistrent des gains de productivité plus faibles que ceux dans lesquels la réglementation est plus propice au libre jeu des forces du marché. Nous montrons également que les États relativement libéraux attirent davantage l'investissement étranger, qu'ils ont de meilleures infrastructures, et que le secteur organisé y représente une proportion plus importante de l'emploi que dans les États ayant un cadre réglementaire plus restrictif. Les États qui ont décrété un système réglementaire relativement libéral sont aussi ceux qui ont connu le plus de réussite dans l'approvisionnement en infrastructure. Les autorités doivent aller plus loin dans la réforme de la réglementation des marchés de produits pour renforcer encore la croissance de la productivité, et veiller à ce que les fruits des réformes soient plus largement distribués dans l'ensemble du pays. Ce document de travail se rapporte à l'Étude économique de l'Inde 2007 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/inde).productivity convergence, institutions and growth, institutions et croissance, convergence de la productivité