Back in April 2009 I wrote a post which drew on the work of James Hamilton with regard to oil prices as the possible proximate cause of the Great Recession. Hamilton had pretty much nailed the decline in economic output that would result from an oil shock equivalent to the one we experienced in 2008 […]
Archive for January 12th, 2011
Housing’s Fall Tops Great Depression Levels
Posted by Tom Lindmark on January 12th, 2011
From Reuters, here’s a pretty amazing statistic: Home prices fell for the 53rd consecutive month in November, taking the decline past that of the Great Depression for the first time in the prolonged housing slump, according to Zillow. Home prices have fallen 26 percent since their peak in 2006, exceeding the 25.9 percent drop registered […]
Revisiting Ibanez
Posted by Tom Lindmark on January 12th, 2011
Last week I suggested that the Ibanez case of faulty mortgage documentation in Massachusetts was something of a tempest in a teapot. I wasn’t alone in downplaying the effects but a couple of pretty smart people have put forth some arguments that make me, at least, a bit less sanguine. John Carney argues that while […]