These recent posts have been a good synthesis of the major points of your research. Occasionally, I catch myself grumbling about your focus on the Great Recession---"why is Kevin obsessed with stuff that happened nearly 20 years ago...." Then, I remind myself that the 2005-2009 period was exceptional because Fed policy was bad for longer than it should have been. In retrospect, it wasn't a causal event in our housing problems, but rather a revealing moment. I don't feel comfortable making the claim that zoning regulations caused the Great Recession, although they played, and continue to play, a big role in price variations. I think that a big problem, which feeds zoning regulations and other bad policy decisions, is the attitude that American homeowners have about their house as an investment vehicle that is supposed to outpace NGDP growth rates. This attitude feeds a lot of intergenerational strife, to say the least.
And it’s not so much understanding the mistakes that were made. It’s also understanding what was falsely blamed. A big reason I continue to be drawn to that period is that so many of the policies that are necessary for shared growth and prosperity are opposed on the grounds that “we tried that in 2005 and it created a disaster.”
If you’re not exercising or eating your vegetables because you think that’s what killed your sister, then your doctor may have to keep reminding you that your sister was hit by a bus, even if her job is not really to talk about busses.
These recent posts have been a good synthesis of the major points of your research. Occasionally, I catch myself grumbling about your focus on the Great Recession---"why is Kevin obsessed with stuff that happened nearly 20 years ago...." Then, I remind myself that the 2005-2009 period was exceptional because Fed policy was bad for longer than it should have been. In retrospect, it wasn't a causal event in our housing problems, but rather a revealing moment. I don't feel comfortable making the claim that zoning regulations caused the Great Recession, although they played, and continue to play, a big role in price variations. I think that a big problem, which feeds zoning regulations and other bad policy decisions, is the attitude that American homeowners have about their house as an investment vehicle that is supposed to outpace NGDP growth rates. This attitude feeds a lot of intergenerational strife, to say the least.
And it’s not so much understanding the mistakes that were made. It’s also understanding what was falsely blamed. A big reason I continue to be drawn to that period is that so many of the policies that are necessary for shared growth and prosperity are opposed on the grounds that “we tried that in 2005 and it created a disaster.”
If you’re not exercising or eating your vegetables because you think that’s what killed your sister, then your doctor may have to keep reminding you that your sister was hit by a bus, even if her job is not really to talk about busses.