Periods of rapid growth in lending are often associated with construction booms, partly because real-estate assets are relatively easy to post as collateral for loans. But the rate of productivity growth in construction is low, and the value of many credit-fueled projects subsequently turns out to be low or negative.
两位作者还发现了另一个有趣的效应。贷款迅速增加的时期通常伴随着建筑业繁荣，这部分是因为房地产资产相对较易作为贷款抵押品。但建筑业的生产率增长率很低，许多信用支撑起来的工程的价值随后会变得非常低甚至是负价值。