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From Laissez Faire to a Market Mechanism: the Formation of Housing Finance in Taiwan


Abstract The literature on East Asian developmental states has mostly focused on economic policies; few studies have investigated how developmentalism affects urbanisation. This study addresses this gap by analysing the formation of a housing system by the developmental state and the role of the housing sector in the transition from an economic miracle in the 1960s to stagnation after the 1990s. Wang, Lee, and Chen (2017) argued that Taiwan’s state bureaucrats played a gradually diminishing role in directing the market. This article takes a different approach by arguing that the government’s interventions on housing intensified after the 1990s; housing finance sectors were formalised, squatters were removed, and interventions based on market mechanisms were employed to stimulate the housing market. However, the lack of an effective state intervention on housing made speculation difficult to control and created an obstacle to economic development. Such housing speculation increased social inequality.
Authors Yi‐Ling Chen University of WyomingORCID
Journal Info Brill | International Journal of Taiwan Studies , pages: 1 - 29
Publication Date 6/14/2024
ISSN 2468-8797
TypeKeyword Image article
Open Access closed Closed Access
DOI https://doi.org/10.1163/24688800-20241374
KeywordsKeyword Image Financialization (Score: 0.500727)