Urban construction, modernisation and so, is the main investment done by governments to boost the economy, because urbanisation attracts investments and cities created big consume demands. But these investments are the major forces leasing to the main crises at least since 1870.
When France economy was starting getting weak in the middle of XIX century they invested in modernising Paris is a huge scale. It workerd to attract investment and to create demand for business but eventually it lead to the late 1860s crises resulting the the famous Paris Commune. The war against Bismark's Prussia was an other way to attempt to invest the eccess of capital.
The very same strategy was the urban development in NY and other major cities in America leading and the property crisis in the midle of 1920s preciding the big economic crash.
The american suburb development in the 1940s excluding minorities, especially the black community, and the bored suburb middle class kids, lead the 68 protests.
After changes in the economy for a more Neoliberal strategy, giving much more power to capitalists acumulation investments in urban development became more frequent and so the cycle of crisis.
The crisis of 1973 originated in a global property market crash; it wasn't really the oil prices as mainstream economics like to suggest. The property crash happen 6 months before the oil price hike and recession was well under way by the fall.
Commercial property lead the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s in the US.
The end of Japan boom in 1990 corresponded to a collapse of land prices.
Nationalisation of Swedish banking system in 1992 because of eccess in property markets.
One of the teiggers for the collapse in East and South East Asia in 1997-98 was the eccessive urban development in Thailand.
Since urbain development have been intensified in the past 20 years I assume that keeping an eye on the property market is a good idea as a sinal for major crisis approaching.
The greater the share of property markets in GDP, the more significant the connection between financing and investment in the built environment becomes a major source of macro crisis.
In the US where housing mortgage was equivalent of 40% of GDP it mostly certainly generated a crisis in 2007-09.
Source: Rebel Cities: From the right to the city to the urban revolution by David Harvey
Submitted September 10, 2021 at 06:53AM by ThorDansLaCroix https://ift.tt/3nlyBuA
