But the worry is that these gains have combined with a lax monetary policy to encourage speculative excesses.
Unlike London, his city lacks the breadth of profitable companies that encourages speculative investment by telecoms firms.
Taxing land rather than buildings would encourage speculative construction and would push those sitting on large stocks to build or sell up.
IMF research shows that it restricts the development of markets, limiting investment opportunities for the poor, and encourages speculative financial activity.
We get the 18th-century Scottish economist John Law, for instance, who encouraged speculative trading through the Mississippi Company, established to help the French colony of Louisiana; the bubble burst, and he essentially bankrupted France.
And while Fed officials have argued that there is little danger of a national housing bubble, they have acknowledged concerns that low interest rates may have encouraged speculative buying by people who have unrealistic expectations about future price increases.
The new rules try to correct this, for example by allowing a reward to be paid in some circumstances to whistle-blowers who only grumble internally.The chance of making a fortune may encourage speculative whistle-blowing in the hope of winning the lottery.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said the decision was a victory for suburban sprawl and would "only encourage speculative developers to usurp decisions about how a community determines its future, not on the basis of the environment and sound land-use planning, but on the grounds of profit".
They allow for short-term contracts and encourage speculative ventures and new entrants in the market.
They point to the record highs of US markets, as well as increased borrowing in sectors such as subprime car loans, as an indication that low rates have encouraged speculative risk taking.
