This book demonstrates how housing systems are built from political struggles over the distribution of welfare and wealth. The contributors analyze varieties of residential capitalism through a range of international case studies, as well as investigating the links between housing finance and the current international financial crisis.

Where the field of international political economy typically ignores the importance of housing finance markets, this book highlights the relationship between housing and welfare within economies.

Varieties of Residential Capitalism and the Politics of Housing Market Crashes; H.M.Schwartz & L.Seabrooke Housing, Global Finance and American Hegemony: Building Conservative Politics One Brick at a Time; H.M.Schwartz Constituting Monetary Conservatives via the 'Savings Habit': The Incorporation of the Ongoing British Housing Market Bubble into a System of Asset-Based Welfare; M.Watson The Social Consequences of Neoliberalism: The Politics of Property Booms in New Zealand; A.Broome The Bubble, Bust and More Boom: The Political Economy of Housing in Norway; B.S.Tranøy Housing as Social Right or Means to Wealth? The Fallout of Property Booms in Australia and Denmark; J.L.Mortensen & L.Seabrooke Residential Capitalism in Italy and the Netherlands; M.B.Aalbers The New Politics of Housing: Lessons from Real Estate Developers and Housing Policies in France and Spain since the 1980s; J.Pollard Origins and Consequences of the US Subprime Crisis; H.M.Schwartz Conclusion: The Politics and Policy of the Housing Market Crash; H.M. Schwartz & L.Seabrooke Notes Index Bibliography