What caused the U.S. housing crisis?

• Antoinette Schoar
• 11 Feb 2020

Understanding the origins of the American housing crisis of 2007 has been a challenge for economists and policy makers. Antoinette Schoar and her co-researchers revealed that the tale of a “subprime mortgage crisis” is not based on what actually happened. As Schoar explains, it was the middle- and upper-middle class that defaulted in unprecedented large numbers which predominantly caused the crash. Better understanding of the false narrative could have led to the introduction of better policies.