Skyscraper Index
Idea that the construction of skyscrapers predicts an economic crash / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Skyscraper Index is a concept put forward by Andrew Lawrence, a property analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, in January 1999,[1][2] which showed that the world's tallest buildings have risen on the eve of economic downturns.[3] Business cycles and skyscraper construction correlate[4] in such a way that investment in skyscrapers peaks when cyclical growth is exhausted and the economy is ready for recession.[5] Mark Thornton's Skyscraper Index Model successfully sent a signal of the late-2000s financial crisis at the beginning of August 2007.[6][7]
The buildings may actually be completed after the onset of the recession or later, when another business cycle pulls the economy up, or even cancelled.[5] Unlike earlier instances of similar reasoning ("height is a barometer of boom"),[8] Lawrence used skyscraper projects as a predictor of economic crisis, not boom.
One statistical study found that the height of buildings is not an accurate predictor of recessions or other aspects of the business cycle, but that GDP can predict the height of building construction.[9]