Housing market polices and pension fund regulation have undermined economic efficiency and amplified the current business cycle. Policies that have the effect of restricting housing supply and high tax subsidies for owner-occupied housing have underpinned large increases in house prices relative to disposable income, reducing living standards, and have contributed to macroeconomic volatility stemming from housing wealth effects. Pension fund regulation allowed pension funds to set past contribution rates too low to cover the costs of the promises being made, leading (together with some other developments, notably the fall in interest rates and the worldwide fall in equity prices) to the current ...