The Great American Housing Bubble: The Road to Collapse

This meticulously documented work sets forth the major causes of the greatest asset bubble in world economic history―the American housing bubble, which began in 1940 and collapsed in 2007.

• Extracts from major legislation―federal, state, and local―that promoted the creation of the housing bubble

• An introductory essay illuminating the broad features of Western capitalism and the financial and government institutions that have evolved to promote and regulate it, notably in the United States

• A detailed chronology orienting readers to the sequence and context of events

• A glossary of important financial and regulatory terms and terms used by those in the housing industry

• An appendix of governmental agencies and private institutions and think tanks involved in various aspects of the financial crisis

• A bibliography listing hundreds of sources, from articles and periodicals to books and treatises