The Obama Administration is reportedly pushing banks to increase mortgage lending to people with relatively weak credit in hopes of boosting home sales. But the very same policy under Presidents Clinton and Bush contributed mightily to the housing bubble that ultimately devastated millions of families in mortgage default. Credit is …
Via Greg Mankiw, Bentley University professor Scott Sumner writes on efficient-markets hypothesis (EMH): So the anti-EMH argument for regulation must be based on the following: bankers are irrational and make lots of foolish loans. Regulators are rational and can see that these loans are too risky, and can protect bankers …
Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of the UK arm EDF energy, made an interesting but frightening comparison when talking about trading carbon credits under the European Union’s cap-and-trade program: We like certainty about a carbon price. [But] the carbon price has to become simple and not become a new type of …
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Bill Steigerwald posted a great Q&A interaction with Heritage housing expert Ron Utt this weekend. Excerpts include: Q: Is this subprime mortgage lending crisis sort of the final extension of this idea of liberalizing home buying? Is this what we get when we push it too far and …