IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/houspd/v23y2013i1p5-27.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Housing?

Author

Listed:
  • Adam J. Levitin
  • Susan M. Wachter

Abstract

Asset bubbles come and go. Only the housing bubble, however, brought the economy to its knees. Why? What makes housing uniquely a cause of macroeconomic risk? This article examines the workings of the housing market as well as theories and empirical evidence about the housing bubble. It explains why housing is a particular source of macroeconomic risk and how changes in the housing finance channel were the critical element in the formation of the bubble.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam J. Levitin & Susan M. Wachter, 2013. "Why Housing?," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 5-27, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:23:y:2013:i:1:p:5-27
    DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2012.749936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10511482.2012.749936
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10511482.2012.749936?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2008. "The Consequences of Mortgage Credit Expansion: Evidence from the 2007 Mortgage Default Crisis," NBER Working Papers 13936, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Peter J. Wallison, 2011. "Dissent from the Majority Report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 50848, September.
    3. Bernanke, B.S., 2011. "International capital flows and the returns to safe assets in the United States 2003-2007," Financial Stability Review, Banque de France, issue 15, pages 13-26, February.
    4. George A. Akerlof, 2009. "How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1175-1175.
    5. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2008. "Summary of \"the consequences of mortgage credit expansion\"," Proceedings 1074, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    6. Ana Fostel & John Geanakoplos, 2012. "Tranching, CDS, and Asset Prices: How Financial Innovation Can Cause Bubbles and Crashes," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 190-225, January.
    7. repec:aei:rpaper:26126 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. John B. Taylor, 2009. "Getting Off Track - How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis," Books, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, number 3, December.
    9. Coleman IV, Major & LaCour-Little, Michael & Vandell, Kerry D., 2008. "Subprime lending and the housing bubble: Tail wags dog?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 272-290, December.
    10. repec:aei:rpbook:24944 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Veblen, Thorstein, 1904. "Theory of Business Enterprise," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1904.
    12. Engel, Kathleen C. & McCoy, Patricia A., 2011. "The Subprime Virus: Reckless Credit, Regulatory Failure, and Next Steps," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195388824, Decembrie.
    13. Raghuram G. Rajan, 2010. "Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9111.
    14. Richard J. Herring & Susan Wachter, 1999. "Real Estate Booms and Banking Busts: An International Perspective," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 99-27, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    15. Peter J. Wallison, 2011. "A dissent from the majority report of the financial crisis inquiry commission," Proceedings 1118, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Barakova, Irina & Calem, Paul S. & Wachter, Susan M., 2014. "Borrowing constraints during the housing bubble," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 4-20.
    2. Anundsen, André Kallåk & Heebøll, Christian, 2016. "Supply restrictions, subprime lending and regional US house prices," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 54-72.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeroen Hessel & Jolanda Peeters, 2011. "Housing bubbles, the leverage cycle and the role of central banking," DNB Occasional Studies 905, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    2. Charles W. Calomiris, 2019. "How to Promote Fed Independence: Perspectives from Political Economy and History," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 31(4), pages 21-42, December.
    3. Dan Immergluck, 2011. "Critical Commentary. Sub-prime Crisis, Policy Response and Housing Market Restructuring," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(16), pages 3371-3383, December.
    4. Dan Immergluck, 2015. "A look back: what we now know about the causes of the US mortgage crisis," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 269-285, November.
    5. Peter J. Wallison, 2011. "Will (Should) Dodd-Frank Survive?," NFI Policy Briefs 2011-PB-02, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    6. Domenico Giannone & Michele Lenza & Lucrezia Reichlin, 2010. "Business Cycles in the Euro Area," NBER Chapters, in: Europe and the Euro, pages 141-167, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Piskorski, Tomasz & Seru, Amit & Vig, Vikrant, 2010. "Securitization and distressed loan renegotiation: Evidence from the subprime mortgage crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 369-397, September.
    8. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2009_035 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Demyanyk, Yuliya & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2009. "Financial crises and bank failures: a review of prediction methods," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 35/2009, Bank of Finland.
    10. Vasso Ioannidou & Steven Ongena & José-Luis Peydró, 2015. "Monetary Policy, Risk-Taking, and Pricing: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 19(1), pages 95-144.
    11. Vincent Grossmann-Wirth & Sophie Rivaud & Stéphane Sorbe, 2010. "Comprendre la formation de la bulle immobilière américaine et son éclatement," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 438(1), pages 151-171.
    12. Roy, Saktinil & Kemme, David M., 2020. "The run-up to the global financial crisis: A longer historical view of financial liberalization, capital inflows, and asset bubbles," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Khandani, Amir E. & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C., 2013. "Systemic risk and the refinancing ratchet effect," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 29-45.
    14. Catherine Schaumans & Frank Verboven, 2015. "Entry and Competition in Differentiated Products Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 195-209, March.
    15. Thomas Goda & Özlem Onaran & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2014. "A case for redistribution? Income inequality and wealth concentration in the recent crisis," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 12186, Universidad EAFIT.
    16. Basten, Christoph & Koch, Catherine, 2015. "The causal effect of house prices on mortgage demand and mortgage supply: Evidence from Switzerland," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-22.
    17. Huizinga, H.P. & Laeven, L., 2009. "Accounting Discretion of Banks During a Financial Crisis," Discussion Paper 2009-58, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    18. Stephen G. Cecchetti & Sunil Mohanty & Fabrizio Zampolli, 2011. "Achieving growth amid fiscal imbalances: the real effects of debt," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 145-196.
    19. Gwinner, William B. & Sanders, Anthony, 2008. "The sub prime crisis : implications for emerging markets," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4726, The World Bank.
    20. Thomas Goda & Özlem Onaran & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2017. "Income Inequality and Wealth Concentration in the Recent Crisis," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(1), pages 3-27, January.
    21. Clément Bellet, 2017. "Essays on inequality, social preferences and consumer behavior [Inégalités, préférences sociales et comportement du consommateur]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03455045, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:23:y:2013:i:1:p:5-27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RHPD20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.