credit

Here are the important extracts from a recent paper in terms of the causes of the crisis. I have also embedded the full pdf version, which has suggested policy prescriptions as well.

We stumbled upon this interesting chart from the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s 2011 Annual report which shows the share of owner equity in household real estate. It surprised us, not so much in that it is at record lows, but that…

My friend Rob Parenteau doesn’t think it will. His argument against it is similar to the one I have been making about the origins of this crisis. Here’s what I said.

These numbers are well under the inflation rate and show British consumers becoming victims of stagnating and negative real wage growth.

This is an argument in favor of not avoiding recession but of avoiding depression.

A little more than a year ago, many investors were worried about the US state and local government finances. There were genuine concerns that what was happening in Greece could very well be the future of numerous US local governments. Yet…

An excerpt from "The World In Depression" by Charles P. Kindleberger

Central European borrowers loaded up on cheap Swiss franc and euro loans (mainly from Austria and Switzerland) in the lead up to the credit crisis because of higher nominal rates in central Europe. When the crisis hit, these loans became…

I see this private mending market as a bit like pay day loans in the US. The goal, however, is to get around lending restrictions imposed by the state. The lesson is clear: once bubble psychology takes over, it is difficult to dislodge it.…

This column comments on Joe Nocera’s September 23, 2011 column entitled: The Phony Solyndra Scandal. Nocera’s column compares the statements of Solyndra’s controlling managers to Dick Fuld’s statements to the public about Lehman’s…