Last week’s EconTalk episode was with Robert Shiller. He argues that the run-up in housing prices beginning in 1997 was irrational exuberance, a bubble, bound to pop, caused by social contagion:
I wish I’d asked him about all the stuff I’ve since learned about–the incredible increase in government intervention, during both the Clinton and Bush administrations to increase home ownership among low-income buyers and raise the overall rate of home ownership.
As this post points out, it may have begun in earnest in 1997 with Andrew Cuomo, at the time the head of HUD, encouraging the GSEs to become more active in the subprime market. Is that causation or just correlation for the graph? I am looking forward to reading and learning more this week.
