Report to Congress on the Root Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis

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Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437929273
Total Pages : 83 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (379 download)

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Book Synopsis Report to Congress on the Root Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis by : Christopher E. Herbert

Download or read book Report to Congress on the Root Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis written by Christopher E. Herbert and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes data and trends in the residential housing market and reviews the academic lit. and industry press on the root causes of the current foreclosure crisis (FC). Provides a review of policy responses and recommended actions to mitigate the FC and help prevent similar crises from occurring in the future. Contents: (1) Trends in Delinquencies and Foreclosures: Regional Trends in Foreclosures; (2) Lit. Review: General Lit. on Causes of Foreclosures and Delinquencies; Lit. Assessing Causes of the Current FC; Factors Enabling Expanded Risky Lending; (3) Policy Responses to the FC: Efforts To Address Rising Foreclosures; Efforts To Reduce the Risk of High Rates of Mortgage Foreclosures in the Future; Mortgage Market Reform. Illus.

Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781457833076
Total Pages : 62 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis by : Christopher L. Foote

Download or read book Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis written by Christopher L. Foote and published by . This book was released on 2012-04-05 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents 12 facts about the mortgage crisis. The authors argue that the facts refute the popular story that the crisis resulted from finance industry insiders deceiving uninformed mortgage borrowers and investors. Instead, they argue that borrowers and investors made decisions that were rational and logical given their ex post overly optimistic beliefs about house prices. Neither institutional features of the mortgage market nor financial innovations are any more likely to explain those distorted beliefs than they are to explain the Dutch tulip bubble 400 years ago. Economists should acknowledge the limits of their understanding of asset price bubbles and design policies accordingly. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand report.

America's Foreclosure Crisis

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781619422711
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (227 download)

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Book Synopsis America's Foreclosure Crisis by : Russell Burns

Download or read book America's Foreclosure Crisis written by Russell Burns and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problems in the mortgage market are routinely referred to as a "foreclosure crisis" because the level of defaults and foreclosures greatly exceed previous peak levels in the post-war era and, as a result, have drawn comparisons to the levels of distress experienced in the Great Depression. This book contains a review of the academic literature and industry press on the root causes of the current foreclosure crisis, data and analysis of trends in the market, and policy responses and recommended actions to mitigate the current crisis and help prevent similar crises from occurring in the future.

Reducing Foreclosures

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Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437928773
Total Pages : 53 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (379 download)

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Book Synopsis Reducing Foreclosures by : Christopher Foote

Download or read book Reducing Foreclosures written by Christopher Foote and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes a skeptical look at a leading argument about what is causing the foreclosure crisis and what should be done to stop it. The authors focus on two key decisions: the borrower's choice to default on a mortgage and the lender's subsequent choice whether to renegotiate or modify the loan. Unaffordable loans, defined as those with high mortgage payments relative to income at origination, are unlikely to be the main reason that borrowers decide to default. The efficiency of foreclosure for investors is a more plausible explanation for the low number of modifications to date. Policies designed to reduce foreclosures should focus on ameliorating the effects of job loss rather than modifying loans to make them more affordable on a long-term basis. Illustrations.

Foreclosed Justice

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 608 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (318 download)

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Book Synopsis Foreclosed Justice by : United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary

Download or read book Foreclosed Justice written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Chain of Blame

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118039580
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (18 download)

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Book Synopsis Chain of Blame by : Paul Muolo

Download or read book Chain of Blame written by Paul Muolo and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An updated and revised look at the truth behind America's housing and mortgage bubbles In the summer of 2007, the subprime empire that Wall Street had built all came crashing down. On average, fifty lenders a month were going bust-and the people responsible for the crisis included not just unregulated loan brokers and con artists, but also investment bankers and home loan institutions traditionally perceived as completely trustworthy. Chain of Blame chronicles this incredible disaster, with a specific focus on the players who participated in such a fundamentally flawed fiasco. In it, authors Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla reveal the truth behind how this crisis occurred, including what individuals and institutions were doing during this critical time, and who is ultimately responsible for what happened. Discusses the latest revelations in the housing and mortgage crisis, including the SEC's charging of Angelo Mozilo Two well-regarded financial journalists familiar with the events that have taken place chronicle the crisis in detail, showing what happened as well as what lies ahead Discusses how the world's largest investment banks, homeowners, lenders, credit rating agencies, underwriters, and investors all became entangled in the subprime mess Intriguing and informative, Chain of Blame is a compelling story of greed and avarice, one in which many are responsible, but few are willing to admit their mistakes.

Looming Foreclosure Crisis: How to Help Families Save Their Homes

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Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437912559
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (379 download)

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Book Synopsis Looming Foreclosure Crisis: How to Help Families Save Their Homes by : Richard J. Durbin

Download or read book Looming Foreclosure Crisis: How to Help Families Save Their Homes written by Richard J. Durbin and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Witnesses: Thomas Bennett, Bankruptcy Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the N. Dist. of AL; Jacqueline Cox, Bankruptcy Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the N. Dist. of IL; Joseph Mason, Drexel Univ.; Nettie McGee, Chicago, IL; Mark Scarberry, Pepperdine School of Law, and Amer. Bankruptcy Inst.; Henry Sommer, Nat. Assoc. of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys; Mark Zandi, Moody¿s. Submissions for the Record: Amer. Bankers Assoc.; Financial Serv. Roundtable; Thomas Bennett, Bankruptcy Judge; Erwin Chemerinsky, Duke Univ.; Consumer, and civil rights advocate; Consumer Fed. of Amer.; Consumer Mortgage Coalition; Jacqueline Cox, Bankruptcy Judge; Leadership Conf. on Civil Rights. Illus.

Hidden in Plain Sight

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Author :
Publisher : Encounter Books
ISBN 13 : 159403866X
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis Hidden in Plain Sight by : Peter J. Wallison

Download or read book Hidden in Plain Sight written by Peter J. Wallison and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2008 financial crisis—like the Great Depression—was a world-historical event. What caused it will be debated for years, if not generations. The conventional narrative is that the financial crisis was caused by Wall Street greed and insufficient regulation of the financial system. That narrative produced the Dodd-Frank Act, the most comprehensive financial-system regulation since the New Deal. There is evidence, however, that the Dodd-Frank Act has slowed the recovery from the recession. If insufficient regulation caused the financial crisis, then the Dodd-Frank Act will never be modified or repealed; proponents will argue that doing so will cause another crisis. A competing narrative about what caused the financial crisis has received little attention. This view, which is accepted by almost all Republicans in Congress and most conservatives, contends that the crisis was caused by government housing policies. This book extensively documents this view. For example, it shows that in June 2008, before the crisis, 58 percent of all US mortgages were subprime or other low-quality mortgages. Of these, 76 percent were on the books of government agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When these mortgages defaulted in 2007 and 2008, they drove down housing prices and weakened banks and other mortgage holders, causing the crisis. After this book is published, no one will be able to claim that the financial crisis was caused by insufficient regulation, or defend Dodd-Frank, without coming to terms with the data this book contains.

The National Homeownership Strategy

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (121 download)

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Book Synopsis The National Homeownership Strategy by : United States. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Download or read book The National Homeownership Strategy written by United States. Department of Housing and Urban Development and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report

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Publisher : Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1616405414
Total Pages : 692 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (164 download)

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Book Synopsis The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report by : Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

Download or read book The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report written by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Race for Profit

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Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469653672
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

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Book Synopsis Race for Profit by : Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Download or read book Race for Profit written by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST, 2020 PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY By the late 1960s and early 1970s, reeling from a wave of urban uprisings, politicians finally worked to end the practice of redlining. Reasoning that the turbulence could be calmed by turning Black city-dwellers into homeowners, they passed the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, and set about establishing policies to induce mortgage lenders and the real estate industry to treat Black homebuyers equally. The disaster that ensued revealed that racist exclusion had not been eradicated, but rather transmuted into a new phenomenon of predatory inclusion. Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned. The same racist structures and individuals remained intact after redlining's end, and close relationships between regulators and the industry created incentives to ignore improprieties. Meanwhile, new policies meant to encourage low-income homeownership created new methods to exploit Black homeowners. The federal government guaranteed urban mortgages in an attempt to overcome resistance to lending to Black buyers – as if unprofitability, rather than racism, was the cause of housing segregation. Bankers, investors, and real estate agents took advantage of the perverse incentives, targeting the Black women most likely to fail to keep up their home payments and slip into foreclosure, multiplying their profits. As a result, by the end of the 1970s, the nation's first programs to encourage Black homeownership ended with tens of thousands of foreclosures in Black communities across the country. The push to uplift Black homeownership had descended into a goldmine for realtors and mortgage lenders, and a ready-made cudgel for the champions of deregulation to wield against government intervention of any kind. Narrating the story of a sea-change in housing policy and its dire impact on African Americans, Race for Profit reveals how the urban core was transformed into a new frontier of cynical extraction.

Housing and the Financial Crisis

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022603061X
Total Pages : 443 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

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Book Synopsis Housing and the Financial Crisis by : Edward L. Glaeser

Download or read book Housing and the Financial Crisis written by Edward L. Glaeser and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-08-19 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional wisdom held that housing prices couldn’t fall. But the spectacular boom and bust of the housing market during the first decade of the twenty-first century and millions of foreclosed homeowners have made it clear that housing is no different from any other asset in its ability to climb and crash. Housing and the Financial Crisis looks at what happened to prices and construction both during and after the housing boom in different parts of the American housing market, accounting for why certain areas experienced less volatility than others. It then examines the causes of the boom and bust, including the availability of credit, the perceived risk reduction due to the securitization of mortgages, and the increase in lending from foreign sources. Finally, it examines a range of policies that might address some of the sources of recent instability.

Decomposing the Foreclosure Crisis

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Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437929842
Total Pages : 47 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (379 download)

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Book Synopsis Decomposing the Foreclosure Crisis by : Kristopher Gerardi

Download or read book Decomposing the Foreclosure Crisis written by Kristopher Gerardi and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Estimates a model of foreclosure using a data set that includes every residential mortgage, purchase-and-sale, and foreclosure transaction in Mass. from 1989 to 2008. Addresses the identification issues related to the estimation of the effects of house prices on residential foreclosures. Studies the dramatic increase in foreclosures that occurred in Mass. between 2005 and 2008 and concludes that the foreclosure crisis was primarily driven by the severe decline in housing prices that began in the latter part of 2005, not by a relaxation of underwriting standards. Relaxed underwriting standards severely aggravated the crisis by creating a class of homeowners who were particularly vulnerable to the decline in prices. Charts and tables.

Shut Out

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1538122154
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (381 download)

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Book Synopsis Shut Out by : Kevin Erdmann

Download or read book Shut Out written by Kevin Erdmann and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-01-21 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States suffers from a shortage of well-placed homes. This was true even at the peak of the housing boom in 2005. Using a broad array of evidence on housing inflation, income, migration, homeownership trends, and international comparisons, Shut Out demonstrates that high home prices have been largely caused by the constrained housing supply in a handful of magnet cities leading the new economy. The same phenomenon is occurring in leading countries across the globe. Gentrifying cities have become exclusionary bastions in the new postindustrial economy. The US housing bubble that peaked in 2005 is more accurately described as a refugee crisis than a credit bubble. Surging demand for limited urban housing triggered a spike of migration away from the magnet cities among households with moderate and lower incomes who could no longer afford to remain, causing a brief contagion of high prices in the cities where the migrants moved. In this book, author Kevin Erdmann observes that the housing bubble has been broadly and incorrectly attributed to various “excesses.” Policymakers and economists concluded that our key challenge was that we had built too many homes. This misdiagnosis of the problem, according to Erdmann, led to misguided public polices, which were the primary cause of the subsequent financial crisis. A sort of moral panic about supposed excesses in home lending and construction led to destabilizing monetary and regulatory decisions. As the economy slumped, a sense of fatalism prevented the government from responding appropriately to the worsening situation. Shut Out provides a much-needed correction to the causes and consequences of financial crises and secular stagnation.

Reducing Foreclosures

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 53 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Reducing Foreclosures by : Christopher L. Foote

Download or read book Reducing Foreclosures written by Christopher L. Foote and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper takes a skeptical look at a leading argument about what is causing the foreclosure crisis and what should be done to stop it. We use an economic model to focus on two key decisions: the borrower's choice to default on a mortgage and the lender's subsequent choice whether to renegotiate or modify the loan. The theoretical model and econometric analysis illustrate that unaffordable loans, defined as those with high mortgage payments relative to income at origination, are unlikely to be the main reason that borrowers decide to default. In addition, this paper provides theoretical results and empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that the efficiency of foreclosure for investors is a more plausible explanation for the low number of modifications to date than contract frictions related to securitization agreements between servicers and investors. While investors might be foreclosing when it would be socially efficient to modify, there is little evidence to suggest they are acting against their own interests when they do so. An important implication of our analysis is that policies designed to reduce foreclosures should focus on ameliorating the immediate effects of job loss and other adverse life events rather than modifying loans to make them more affordable on a long-term basis.

Rethinking the Financial Crisis

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Author :
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610448154
Total Pages : 375 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Rethinking the Financial Crisis by : Alan S. Blinder

Download or read book Rethinking the Financial Crisis written by Alan S. Blinder and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2013-01-03 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some economic events are so major and unsettling that they “change everything.” Such is the case with the financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 and is still a drag on the world economy. Yet enough time has now elapsed for economists to consider questions that run deeper than the usual focus on the immediate causes and consequences of the crisis. How have these stunning events changed our thinking about the role of the financial system in the economy, about the costs and benefits of financial innovation, about the efficiency of financial markets, and about the role the government should play in regulating finance? In Rethinking the Financial Crisis, some of the nation’s most renowned economists share their assessments of particular aspects of the crisis and reconsider the way we think about the financial system and its role in the economy. In its wide-ranging inquiry into the financial crash, Rethinking the Financial Crisis marshals an impressive collection of rigorous and yet empirically-relevant research that, in some respects, upsets the conventional wisdom about the crisis and also opens up new areas for exploration. Two separate chapters–by Burton G. Malkiel and by Hersh Shefrin and Meir Statman – debate whether the facts of the financial crisis upend the efficient market hypothesis and require a more behavioral account of financial market performance. To build a better bridge between the study of finance and the “real” economy of production and employment, Simon Gilchrist and Egan Zakrasjek take an innovative measure of financial stress and embed it in a model of the U.S. economy to assess how disruptions in financial markets affect economic activity—and how the Federal Reserve might do monetary policy better. The volume also examines the crucial role of financial innovation in the evolution of the pre-crash financial system. Thomas Philippon documents the huge increase in the size of the financial services industry relative to real GDP, and also the increasing cost per financial transaction. He suggests that the finance industry of 1900 was just as able to produce loans, bonds, and stocks as its modern counterpart—and it did so more cheaply. Robert Jarrow looks in detail at some of the major types of exotic securities developed by financial engineers, such as collateralized debt obligations and credit-default swaps, reaching judgments on which make the real economy more efficient and which do not. The volume’s final section turns explicitly to regulatory matters. Robert Litan discusses the political economy of financial regulation before and after the crisis. He reviews the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which he considers an imperfect but useful response to a major breakdown in market and regulatory discipline. At a time when the financial sector continues to be a source of considerable controversy, Rethinking the Financial Crisis addresses important questions about the complex workings of American finance and shows how the study of economics needs to change to deepen our understanding of the indispensable but risky role that the financial system plays in modern economies.

Financial Shock

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Author :
Publisher : FT Press
ISBN 13 : 0137004214
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (37 download)

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Book Synopsis Financial Shock by : Mark Zandi

Download or read book Financial Shock written by Mark Zandi and published by FT Press. This book was released on 2008-07-09 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The obvious place to start is the financial crisis and the clearest guide to it that I’ve read is Financial Shock by Mark Zandi. ... it is an impressively lucid guide to the big issues.” – The New York Times “In Financial Shock, Mr. Zandi provides a concise and lucid account of the economic, political and regulatory forces behind this binge.” – The Wall Street Journal “Aggressive builders, greedy lenders, optimistic home buyers: Zandi succinctly dissects the mortgage mess from start to (one hopes) finish.” – U.S. News and World Report “A more detailed look at the crisis comes from economist Mark Zandi, co-founder of Moody's Economy.com. His “Financial Shock” delves deeply into the history of the mortgage market, the bad loans, the globalization of trashy subprime paper and how homebuilders ran amok. Zandi's analysis is eye-opening. ... he paints an impressive, more nuanced picture.” – Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine “If you wonder how it could be possible for a subprime mortgage loan to bring the global financial system and the U.S. economy to its knees, you should read this book. No one is better qualified to provide this insight and advice than Mark Zandi.” –Larry Kudlow, Host, CNBC’s Kudlow & Company “Every once in a while a book comes along that’s so important, it commands recognition. This is one of them. Zandi provides a rilliant blow-by-blow account of how greed, stupidity, and recklessness brought the first major economic crises of the 21st entury and the most serious since the Great Depression.” –Bernard Baumohl,Managing Director, The Economic Outlook Group and best-selling author, The Secrets of Economic Indicators “Throughout the financial crisis Mark Zandi has played two important roles. He has insightfully analyzed its causes and thoughtfully recommended steps to alleviate it. This book continues those tasks and adds a third–providing a comprehensive and comprehensible explanation of the issues that is accessible to the general public and extremely useful to those who specialize in the area.” –Barney Frank, Chairman, House Financial Services Committee The subprime crisis created a gigantic financial catastrophe. What happened? How did it happen? How can we prevent similar crises from happening again? Mark Zandi answers all these critical questions–systematically, carefully, and in plain English. Zandi begins with a fast-paced overview and then illuminates the deepest causes, from the psychology of homeownership to Alan Greenspan’s missteps. You’ll see the home “flippers” at work and the real estate agents who cheered them on. You’ll learn how Internet technology and access to global capital transformed the mortgage industry, helping irresponsible lenders drive out good ones. Zandi demystifies the complex financial engineering that enabled lenders to hide deepening risks, shows how global investors eagerly bought in, and explains how flummoxed regulators failed to prevent disaster, despite crucial warning signs. Most important, Zandi offers indispensable advice for investors who must recognize emerging bubbles, policymakers who must improve oversight, and citizens who must survive whatever comes next. Liar’s loans, flippers, predatory lenders, delusional homebuilders How the housing market came unhinged, and the whirlwind came together Alan Greenspan’s trillion-dollar bet Betting on the boom, ignoring the bubble The subprime market goes global Worldwide investors get a piece of the action–and reap the results Wall Street’s alchemists: conjuring up Frankenstein New financial instruments and their hidden contents Back to the future: risk management for the 21st century Respecting the “animal spirits” that drive even the most sophisticated markets