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The American Dream and Private Property: A Historical Perspective on the Value of Homeownership in American Culture, Politics, and Economic

Author

Listed:
  • Bradley Smith

    (UPN - Université Paris Nanterre, CREA (EA 370) - Centre de Recherches Anglophones - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre, UPN LCE - Université Paris Nanterre - UFR Langues et cultures étrangères - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre)

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of the close links forged in the United States between housing policy, financial regulation, and the development of an American way of life that sees home ownership as one of the supreme values of American culture. New Deal policies restructured the real estate market to make suburban home ownership more accessible to the middle classes during the three post-war decades. However, the new economic conditions of the 1970s threatened this relative democratization of home ownership. Deregulation and various financial innovations were then conceived as a solution to enable modest-income households to also access the "American dream" thanks to the liberalization of the credit system and the real estate market. The subprime crisis revealed the fragility of a neoliberal development model in which the American dream was increasingly financed by debt due to wage stagnation, while subprime loans spread throughout the system via securitization.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradley Smith, 2017. "The American Dream and Private Property: A Historical Perspective on the Value of Homeownership in American Culture, Politics, and Economic," Post-Print hal-04380163, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04380163
    as

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