Lu Zhang
Short bio
Lu Zhang is a Senior Economist in the Financial Stability Division with over 10 years of experience in financial stability, macroprudential policy, housing markets and climate-related financial risks. She co-leads the DNB housing market cluster and represents DNB in international fora. Before joining DNB in 2020, Lu was a policy advisor at the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, advising Dutch government on housing policy and financial sector regulation. She holds a PhD in international economics and finance from Utrecht University and has held research positions at the University of Groningen and the Sustainable Finance Lab, as well as visiting scholar positions at the Bank of England and University of Tokyo. She also served as co-promoter of a PhD dissertation.
Education
2013 – Ph.D. in International Economics and Finance, Utrecht University
2009 – M.Phil in Multidisciplinary Economics, Utrecht University
2007 – M.Sc. in International Economics and Business, Utrecht University, Cum Laude
Research interests
- Macro-finance
- Macroprudential policy
- Housing markets
- Climate change
Work in progress
The Impact of Climate Hazards on the European Corporate Loan Market, with Stefany Burbano, Robert Vermeulen and Mark Sanders.
Shifts in Housing Preferences and House Prices: Evidence from the Netherlands, with Cindy Biesenbeek and Dorinth van Dijk.
Working papers
Income-based Tools to Mitigate Housing Market Risks - Where Might We Have Been Without Them?, with co-authors from the BIS and central banks, invited paper for the 9th Annual Macroprudential Conference, June 18-19, 2025. Download
Publications in refereed journals
The Information Value of Energy Labels: Evidence from the Dutch Residential Housing Market, with Lennart Stangenberg and Sjors van Wickeren, Ecological Economics, 240, 108791, 2026. Download.
Credit Policy and the ‘Debt Shift’ in Advanced Economies, with Josh Ryan Collins, Frank van Lerven and Dirk Bezemer, Socio-Economic Review, vol.21(1), 2023. Download
Does Mortgage Lending Impact Business Credit? Evidence from a New Disaggregated Bank Credit Data Set, with Dirk Bezemer and Anna Samarina, Journal of Banking and Finance,113, 105760, 2020. Download
Specialization in the Presence of Trade and Financial Openness, with Jaap Bos and Claire Economidou, Empirical Economics, 58, 2783-2816, 2019. Download
Credit Composition and the Severity of Post-crisis Recession, with Dirk Bezemer, Journal of Financial Stability, 42, 52-66, 2019. Download
Credit Cycle Coherence in the Eurozone: Was There an Euro Effect?, with Anna Samarina and Dirk Bezemer, Journal of International Money and Finance, 77, 77-98, 2017. Download
International Product Life Cycles, Trade and Development Stages, with David Audretsch and Mark Sanders, Journal of Technology Transfer, 1-44, 2017. Download
More Mortgages, Lower Growth?, with Dirk Bezemer and Maria Grydaki, Economic Inquiry, 54(1), 652-674, 2016. Download
Finance and Growth in China, 1995-2013: More Liquidity or More Development?, with Dirk Bezemer, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 9(3), 613-631, 2016. Download
Publication in books
Room to Move: Why Some Industries Drive the Trade-Specialization Nexus and Others Do Not, with Jaap Bos, Chapter in Advances in Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, e.d. by C. Parmeter and R. Sickles, Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2019. Download
Other publications
Verklaringen voor het Snelle Herstel van Huizenprijzen, DNB Achtergrond, Juni 2024. Download
Macroprudential Policies to Mitigate Housing Market Risks - Country Case Study: the Netherlands, BIS CGFS papers, December 2023. Download
Verzekeraars in een Veranderende Wereld, DNB Toezicht in Beeld, November 2022. Download
Real Estate and Climate Transition Risk: a Financial Stability Perspective, DNB Occasional Study, February 2022. Download
Speech Olaf Sleijpen - De Woningmarkt: Quo Vadis?, June 2022. Download
Duurzame Woningvoorraad Vergt Miljardeninvestering en is niet Zonder Risico, Economisch Statistische Berichten, 23 May 2022. Download
Last update: November, 2025.