Subprime Mortgage Crisis Research Papers (original) (raw)

If the present world is defined as Kafkaesque, what better way have we to access the Kafkaesque than through Kafka? A critical engagement with Kafka's works may help us comprehend the logic of the absurd operative in the contemporary lifeworld. The article largely relies on Kafka's The Trial and The Castle—with cursory references to his other works—to analyze the workings of the ultra-efficient hyper-rationalities governing the present mode of governance. By subjecting comfortable constants to critical scrutiny, Kafka's works not only expose the dynamics of hyper-rationality, but also give forth a way we may overcome its tyranny and envision alternatives. The article concludes by briefly reviewing the question: Can the post-crisis world be post-Kafkaesque?

- by Muhammad Ali Nasir
- •
- Critical Theory, Literary Criticism, Critical Thinking, Franz Kafka

Firms can finance themselves on- or off-balance sheet. Off-balance sheet financing involves transferring assets to "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs), following accounting and regulatory rules that circumscribe relations between the sponsoring firm and the SPVs. SPVs are carefully designed to avoid bankruptcy. If the firm's bankruptcy costs are high, off-balance sheet financing can be advantageous, especially for sponsoring firms that are risky. In a repeated SPV game, firms can "commit" to subsidize or "bail out" their SPVs when the SPV would otherwise not honor its debt commitments. Investors in SPVs know that, despite legal and accounting restrictions to the contrary, SPV sponsors can bail out their SPVs if there is the need. We find evidence consistent with these predictions using data on credit card securitizations.

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the Great Depression (1929-1933) and the Great Financial Crisis (2007-2009) by contrasting the crises' main driving forces and how they relate to each other with respect to the United States. To this end, causes, consequences and measures undertaken during the crises are evaluated and dissected. The analysis reveals striking parallels between the Great Depression and the Great Financial Crisis. Causal factors in both crises were a flawed design of the banking system (unit banking, too-big-to-fail), a real estate boom and high debt burdens of both households and financial institutions, as well as pronounced economic inequality. Measures taken during each of the crises differed markedly, however. Whereas the political approach to the Great Depression was long characterised by inaction, the response during the recent crisis proved to be swift and aggressive, which prevented a repeat of the Great Depression by attenuating the immediate adverse effects on the economy. However, strong evidence exists that the response may only have deferred the adjustment process initiated by the crisis of
2007-2009. This paper presents empirical observations supporting the view that the structural problems which led to 2007-2009 are still existent today and continue to threaten financial stability.

- by Peter Eigner and +1
- •
- Real Estate, Real Estate Economics, Great Depression, Real Estate Finance

Desde el estallido en 2008 de la burbuja inmobiliaria y financiera, el sobreendeudamiento hipotecario representa una preocupación para muchas familias españolas y catalanas, en un contexto de «nueva pobreza» caracterizada por el desempleo masivo y por unas políticas de austeridad que han conducido a muchas personas a la exclusión social. La pérdida de la vivienda tiene impacto sobre las relaciones sociales y condiciona tanto las estrategias socioeconómicas como las interpretaciones culturales del endeudamiento, en términos de estigma y de negación de una segunda oportunidad vital. Las realidades analizadas en el contexto de esta emergencia habitacional están marcadas por la amenaza del sinhogarismo, pero también por la oportunidad de la participación en un movimiento colectivo. Desde una aproximación etnográfica, los textos exploran, por una parte, la condición del endeudamiento y su impacto en las personas, y, por otra, las funciones ideológicas, políticas y socio-afectivas de un m...

- by Irene Sabaté
- •
- Cultural Studies, Political Science, Urban Studies, Affordable Housing

Subprime mortgage crisis is defined as a nationwide banking emergency that coincided with the U.S.
recession of December 2007 – June 2009. This incident had been analyzed from various aspects as it
redefined the world economy and the largest banking and financial institutions of the world. A
major American financial services company Citigroup suffered the crisis caused by manifold
contributing reasons that could be triggered and prevented prior to the crisis, is analyzed here.
Secondary data had been used here to formulate the thorough study from sources like Reuters,
Sonntag, Barnett-Hart. Excessive issuance of CDOs by Citigroup to reallocate risk, regulate capital
relief and earn greater profit was the substantial reason of its distress. Besides insufficient risk
management resulting from risk managers’ cronyism and retransfer of huge amount of troubled
assets back into its balance sheet to avoid the forego of its institutional clients due to shadow
banking added to the situation. The crisis resulted in a numerical loss of $18.72 billion and around
100000 job cuts during 2008 period. Government aid like bail-out and internal restructure was
implemented by this giant institution to overcome the distress. An analysis, backed by the study of
the overall mishap suggests that, providing Citigroup with independent risk management, credit
rating of its internal departments with stricter regulations, audits and checking rather than profit
oriented private rating agencies and deeper focus on future strategies would act better as measures
to prevent recurrence of such crisis and to eradicate the impact of the happened crisis in Citigroup.
The report contains 5 sections. Section 1 to 5 contains Introduction and Background of subprime
mortgage crisis; Key factors that caused Citigroup’s Distress; Impact of the crisis on Citigroup;
Measures taken to improve the situation; Recommended Measures and conclusion respectively.

- by Md. Nurul Alam
- •
- Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2012 is widely considered to be second in severity to only the Great Depression of the 1930s. Sardonically coined as the ʻGreat Recessionʼ by commentators and media alike, what began as a housing crisis in the United States rapidly degenerated into a systemic mess that wrecked brand-name financial institutions, led to government bailouts and in some cases, liquidation. The crisis reduced consumer wealth in the region of trillions and sparked off a series of recessions in both the developed and developing world. In this essay I will look at the causes, evaluate the measures taken to contain it and examine some of the underlying discourses that plied the timeline of the recession.

In this paper, the causes that led to the credit crunch, which played a key role in conveying the crisis to sovereign debt crisis are to be examined and reported. With simple and illustrative way, it will be made an attempt to analyze and understand the reasons, which brought the financial system to the brink of destruction. By the fall of 2008 everyone thought that the crisis started from the Wall Street and affected all financial markets globally would be limited to the financial sector. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 the credit crunch took dimensions of global phenomenon. The role of the savior played several countries. The price of the rescue was several countries to have increased their debts. But the crisis itself has highlighted cases and countries facing debt problems prior to this, which were inflated during this period. The factors that compose the multiple forms of crisis are divided into two phases: The credit crisis, the sovereign debt crisis.

Financialization can be characterized as capital switching from the primary, secondary or tertiary circuit to the quaternary circuit of capital. Housing is a central aspect of financialization. The financialization of mortgage markets demands that not just homes but also homeowners become viewed as financially exploitable. It is exemplified by the securitization of mortgage loans, but also by the use of credit scoring and risk-based pricing. In the past century, mortgage markets were transformed from being a 'facilitating market' for homeowners in need of credit to one increasingly facilitating global investment. Since mortgage markets are both local consumer markets and global investment markets, the dynamics of financialization and globalization directly relate homeowners to global investors thereby increasing the volatility in mortgage markets, as the current crisis shows all too well.

- by Manuel Aalbers
- •
- Credit Scoring, Securitization, Housing, Financialization

The Enlightenment and the colonization had far-reaching impacts on the education systems of the entire world. The African continent is no exception to this dramatic influence, although Africa received the benefits of the Enlightenment... more

- by Jason E Thomas
- •
- Education, Adult Education, Finace, World Economy

This research aims to determine the effect of literacy rate, mean years of schooling and life expectancy to the economic growth at five regions in Riau Province. The method of analysis of this research is quantitative-descriptive, using panel data regression analysis for data period of 2004-2013. The object of this research is 5 of 12 regions in Riau Province which have higher economic growth relative to the others,these regions are Bengkalis, Indragiri Hilir, Siak, Pekanbaru and Dumai. The result from this research shows that literacy rate and life expectancy have positive and significant effect on economic growth, while mean years of schooling hasn’t significant effect on the economic growth in five regions in Riau Province during 2004-2013. Simultaneously literacy rate, mean years of schooling and life expectancy significant effect on the economic growth. This research also shows that the regions which are received most benefit from human development are Pekanbaru, Bengkalis and Dumai. While human development in Indragiri Hilir and Siak less beneficial to economic growth because the economy of those regions dominated by the agricultural sector, that is palm oil commodity. Both regions have a sector basis in the agricultural sector, hence economic growth slowed down in Indragiri Hilir and Siak in 2009-2013. The drop in palm oil prices caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in early 2009.

- by John Viter
- •
- Human Resource Development, Economic Growth, Human Development, Regional Economics

There are two dominant discourses on finance: in the first, finance is the great enabler; in the second, finance is the great divider, the driver of social exclusion. What starts out as finance as an enabler can easily turn into finance as a divider. If someone's mortgage loan application is accepted, they may see finance as the enabler of homeownership, but if the loan conditions are predatory in nature, finance becomes a means of extraction. This paper focuses on two ways in which housing finance creates harm: redlining and predatory lending. This paper does not discuss new empirical research on redlining or predatory lending, but provides a selective overview of studies documenting these two forms of housing finance as harm. These two forms of housing finance share a number of characteristics related to exclusion, social groups, geography and local impact. Mortgage redlining is a form of place-based discrimination from housing finance. By delineating neighborhoods in which lenders do not grant mortgage loans they exclude households who want to buy a house and those who cannot sell their house. Predatory lending is a subset of subprime lending. Predatory loans are designed to exploit vulnerable borrowers. The rise of predatory lending had little to do with the mantra of emerging homeownership markets. In conclusion, mortgage lenders have the power to harm potential borrowers through direct exclusion (mortgage redlining) or indirect exclusion through overpriced loans (subprime and in particular predatory lending).
Keywords: mortgage finance, redlining, subprime lending, predatory loans, social exclusion, homeownership

- by Manuel Aalbers
- •
- Finance, Human Geography, Securitization, Discrimination

The 2014 Mortgage Market Review in the United Kingdom prompted legislation that empowered lenders to scrutinize the personal bank statements of potential borrowers for proof of “consistent behavior of being able to live within their means.” Even when someone does not have any debt, they must behave as if they are indebted.
I contend that this type of debt-credit relationship works as a form of science fiction. I base this argument on Fredric Jameson’s definition of science fiction as an effort to imagine and chronicle a “future history.” The work of science fiction posits a future which, in turn, determines possibilities in the present. When lenders extrapolate the future from recent bank statements, they disregard the possibility that potential borrowers may change their lifestyle once making debt repayments. I propose the term “indebted futurism” to describe the phenomenon in which people are expected to prepare constantly for acquiring debt.
Indebted futurism is not only operative on an individual level, but also a societal one. In his book The Making of Indebted Man, Maurizo Lazzarato argues that the pervasive and exploitative relationship between Capital and Debtor means that “the future and its possibilities . . . devoted to reproducing capitalist power relations, seem to be frozen.” Any attempt to reform or replace capitalism must confront and overcome the control that the debt industry exerts over our futures.

- by Andrew Woods
- •
- Science Fiction, Fredric Jameson, Maurizio Lazzarato, Franco Berardi (Bifo)

There is a long history in social science that connects urbanization to capitalism. This entry discusses how the work of Manuel Castells and in particular David Harvey informs our understanding of the urbanization of financial crises in the United States and elsewhere. The concepts of capital switching and financialization are central to the argument presented here. The entry also includes a discussion of the management of the crisis, focusing on both the failed institutional response to the financial crisis and the global/local grassroots response to the financial crisis.

- by Manuel Aalbers
- •
- Social Movements, Urban Geography, Globalization, Social Movement

In this paper, we aim at the study of the contagion of the global financial crisis (2007–2009) on Moroccan stock market. Our study focuses to examine whether contagion effects exist on Moroccan stock market, during the current financial crisis. Following Forbes and Rigobon (2002), we define contagion as a positive shift in the degree of comovement between asset returns. We use stock returns in MASI, CAC, DAX, FTSE and NASDAQ as representatives of Moroccan, French, German, British and US markets, respectively. To measure the degree of volatility comovement, time–varying correlation coefficients are estimated by flexible dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) multivariate GARCH model. We investigate empirical studies using the DCC–GARCH framework to test the contagion hypothesis from US and European markets to the Moroccan one.

"...As you know, this is in direct relation to evidenced arguments brought by the Federal government - “THE UNITED STATES v ACE CORP, et al” Docket No. 0:2013cv00464 and the sworn testimony of Nationally recognized Fraud Expert - Lynn Syzmoniak. In this case reference (and on behalf of the Plaintiff - The United States), Ms. Syzmoniak stated under oath that - “Defendants used fraudulent mortgage assignments to conceal that over 1400 MBS trusts, each with mortgages valued at over 1billion,aremissingcriticaldocuments,”meaningthatatleast1 billion, are missing critical documents,” meaning that at least 1billion,aremissingcriticaldocuments,”meaningthatatleast1.4 trillion in mortgage-backed securities are, in fact, non-mortgage-backed securities. Because of the strict laws governing these kinds of securitizations, there’s no way to make the assignments after the fact. Activists have a name for this: “Securitization Fail.” The Department of Justice is well aware of this fact, as is the Defendant - Commonwealth
of Massachusetts. As a matter of record, this evidenced argument stands UNOPPOSED by ALL named Defendants in HARIHAR v US BANK et al, Docket No.15-cv-11880..."

- by Mohan Harihar
- •
- Finance, History, Criminal Law, Civil Law

“Moody’s Credit Ratings and The Subprime Mortgage Meltdown” reviews the 2008 financial crisis and the impact to homeowners by investment firms, lenders and other market and nonmarket stakeholders. Moody’s CEO, Raymond McDaniel, created an environment within the organization that put greater value on increasing market share, improving shareholders return on investment and being primarily driven by bottom-line results. Moody’s business model started changing in 1975 as a result of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) designating Moody’s, S&P and Fitch as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSRO’s), giving each organization a quasi-regulatory role. As a result, Moody’s and the other two organizations started charging bond issuers to rate their products. This created a conflict of interest for Moody’s and the other two rating agencies; bond issuers started to shop for the best ratings from the three agencies. The rating agencies, in turn, failed to meet their obligation to provide independent, objective ratings on the financial instruments they were paid to rate (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, pp. 454-456).
This failure to provide independent, objective ratings was evidently clear during the housing bubble that occurred during the past decade. Structured finance products like residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) became very popular as they appeared to supersede poor returns in the markets and the Federal Reserve Bank’s low interest rate policies. The RMBS’ were highly sought after because of their higher than normal returns. These instruments consisted of bundled home loans purchased by investment banks, then the creation of a pool of home loans that appeared to be bond equity. The problem with RMBS’ was that there was little transparency and they required sophisticated systems to securitize (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, pp. 456-462).
The popularity of the RMBS’, public policy that promoted home ownership, and home financing products that allowed for questionable loans created an atmosphere that lacked oversight. Moody’s showed little restraint in this environment and jumped right into the housing bubble market. In the five years, leading up to 2006, structured finance instruments drove almost 40% of their revenues, and resulted in leading operating margin performance amongst companies in the S&P 500 for five straight years (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, p. 456). Because of Moody’s financial success, CEO Raymond McDaniel, enjoyed a salary of $7.4 million. Under his leadership, the organization was primarily applying the ownership theory versus the stakeholder theory (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, p. 6). Moody’s may not have broken the law, but they clearly did not reflect the ethics and leadership the public needed from them during the period leading up to the financial crisis.

- by susor mark
- •
- Business, Finance, Economics, Macroeconomics

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how some of the assumptions about the current financial crisis are wrong because they misunderstand what takes place in the mortgage market.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper discusses four wrong assumptions: one related to regulation, one to leveraging, one to subprime lending and one to predatory lending. It briefly discusses some policy implications.
Findings: (1) The role of the state in the mortgage market is more complex than suggested by those who blame the state for not doing anything. (2) The concept of leveraging can explain, at least in part, why the losses in financial markets are bigger than the losses in the housing market. (3) Many subprime loans were sold to prime borrowers. (4) Subprime lending was not designed to increase homeownership rates, but to fuel profits by exploiting vulnerable borrowers.
Practical implications (if applicable): It is too easy to argue that everyone made mistakes; most borrowers cannot be blamed for being sold risky, overpriced loans. A rescue plan is needed for defaulting borrowers and those already in foreclosure.
Originality/value: This paper does not present new research, but brings together research that demonstrates that the roots of the crisis in the mortgage market are in many ways different from what is suggested by professionals and journalists alike.
Keywords: Financial crisis, Credit crunch, Mortgage market, Securitization, Subprime lending, Predatory lending, Regulation

L'étude de la crise actuelle est abordée à partir de sept observations méthodologiques et empiriques dont l'ambition de faire passer un triple message : (1) la compréhension et l'étude des crises (et celle de la crise apparue en 2007 plus particulièrement) supposent des représentations ou des référentiels pluriels, divers et qui peuvent changer dans le temps. D'abord parce qu'une crise est un phénomène mouvant. Ensuite parce que sa durée peut conduire à des remises en cause de plus en plus profondes ou structurelles. C'est cette variété et cette mouvance des représentations qui justifient le titre de cet article ; (2) la crise de 2007 est, au moment de son déclenchement, une crise financière liée notamment à une crise de l'endettement privé, mais les conditions du désendettement ne sont pas toujours prises en compte alors que ce problème est central dès lors que l'on reconnaît l'importance de la financiarisation ; (3) la crise de 2007 ne peut pas être considérée comme derrière nous. D'abord parce que bon nombre de problèmes dont la résolution semblait nécessaire pour sortir de cette crise demeurent présents. Ensuite parce que nous n'avons pas encore rattrapé la tendance antérieure à 2007 *. Enfin parce que les politiques restrictives ou d'austérité menées dans certains pays semblent avoir conduit à une dégradation de leur situation.
______________________
* : au moment de la rédaction finale de cet article : avril 2013

- by Bernard Paulré
- •
- Macroeconomics, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Balance sheet recession
- by Kelly Long
- •
- Ethics, Architecture, Photography, Architecture And Photography

The housing crisis of the 2000s exposed fissures in the U.S. financial system. These shortcomings allowed the system to become encumbered with excessive risk and ultimately triggered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In the wake of the deep recession, many academics and researchers wrote post-mortems identifying key causes of the crisis. In 2010, Congress passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as Dodd-Frank, and President Obama signed it into law. It sought to address many of the identified problems by reforming regulations pertaining to mortgage lending, securities trading, banking, insurance, consumer protection, and corporate governance. This chapter explores three causes of the crisis that the regulatory reforms have yet to fully address. First, we highlight challenges that prevented credit rating agencies from being a useful source of information for mortgage-backed securities investors to impose effective market discipline on issuers. Second, we show the failure of several institutional arrangements designed to prevent firm owners and managers from looting the institutions over the short run at the expense of shareholders, who are expecting a maximization of profits over the longer term. Finally, we consider markets from the consumer perspective. We note the tension between overcoming market tendencies to ration credit and exposing households with limited resources to risks associated with products that can broaden access to credit by easing borrowing constraints. In each case, we offer possible strategies for more effectively tackling these problems. Regarding ratings agencies, we propose a new structure where agency-investor conflicts of interest are removed and agencies only assess " ratings eligible " products. Reforms in executive compensation, covenant banking for investment banks, and increased penalties for looting that make criminal liability a real deterrent for firm owners and managers are possible avenues to reduce the likelihood of looting by insiders. Third, we argue that significant investments should be made in financial education to make consumers an additional bulwark – to go with laws and regulations – against abuses and bad outcomes.

- by Anthony Orlando
- •
- Finance, Economic History, Economics, Financial Economics

In today’s knowledge economy, there is an emphasis on group performance...

- by Caroline Kamau-Mitchell
- •
- Business, Finance, Organizational Psychology, Information Science

- by Angelos Markou
- •
- Economics, Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Debt Crisis, Housing Bubble
- by Daivi Rodima-Taylor
- •
- Indebtedness, Mortgages, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Land Titling

The high numbers of over-indebtedness and of evictions in Europe since the financial crisis have highlighted the need to rethink the role that mortgage credit plays for societies. This contribution examines the social function of contract law, based on the observation that contract law is a means of allocating welfare in a political economy in which the welfare state is in retreat. The claim asserted in this article is that EU law in the field of mortgages does not fulfil its social function because it is based on a formalistic understanding of contract law. In order to close the protective gap brought about by a shift in the allocation of welfare from public provision to private markets without altering the understanding of contracts, the proposal is to follow the cooperative contract model of contracts as social cooperation. This approach allows for an assessment of fairness that acknowledges the long-term character of mortgage contracts and the ensuing need to distribute market risks between both contracting parties.

- by Irina Domurath
- •
- Contract Law, Consumer Law, Mortgages, Consumer Debt

From the mid-1990s, Ireland experienced a property bubble, fuelled by deregulation in the banking sector and government commitment to expanding home ownership. However, since 2007, the situation has dramatically reversed. The banking system and property market have collapsed and pushed the Irish state into insolvency. National house prices have fallen by 50 per cent from the peak in 2007, whereas incomes have contracted and the unemployment rate has increased. This has produced a serious situation regarding negative equity and mortgage arrears, a problem highlighted by the former U.S. President Bill Clinton on a visit to Ireland in 2011. This paper examines government responses to the mortgage crisis, particularly their emphasis on mortgage forbearance and reform of Ireland's bankruptcy legislation. An overview of the drivers of the bubble and the extent of negative equity and arrears is provided firstly. In conclusion, the paper reflects upon the implications of the crisis for the homeownership model that Ireland has followed for the last two decades.

- by Richard Waldron
- •
- Housing Policy, Ireland, Housing Systems and Welfare, Low Income Homeownership

Explication, pour les étudiants, des causes directes et indirectes de la crise des subprimes

- by Mohammed Rida Nour
- •
- Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Subprime crisis, Subprime Mortgages

Desde el estallido en 2008 de la burbuja inmobiliaria y financiera experimentada en España durante los primeros años del siglo XXI, el sobreendeudamiento hipotecario representa una preocupación para muchas familias en un contexto de ‘nueva pobreza’ caracterizada por el desempleo masivo, y políticas de austeridad que han conducido a muchas personas a la exclusión social. Quienes se ven amenazados por la pérdida de la vivienda, además son estigmatizados por su fracaso en la movilidad social ascendente, bajo unas condiciones estructurales que niegan a los deudores una segunda oportunidad vital. La pérdida de la vivienda tiene impacto sobre las relaciones sociales y condiciona fuertemente las estrategias socioeconómicas de las personas, dando pie a la creación y/o la recreación de interpretaciones culturales de la cotidianeidad. El contexto en el que se enmarcan las realidades analizadas es la emergencia habitacional, sin embargo los artículos se centran en fenómenos de la intersección entre las consecuencias del sinhogarismo y la participación ciudadana en un movimiento social. Los textos de este monográfico, todos con una aproximación etnográfica, exploran, por una parte, elementos del proceso de endeudamiento y su impacto en las personas, y, por otra parte, estrategias y funciones ideológicas, políticas y socioafectivas de un colectivo organizado en el marco de un movimiento social en desarrollo

- by Ábel Bereményi and +1
- •
- Urban Studies, Affordable Housing, Spain, Global Financial Crisis

Mortgage markets are not just important due to their sheer volume, but also because most homeowners depend on them, because they fuel the economy both directly and indirectly and because they serve an ideological purpose in the neoliberal age. The 'regulated deregulation' of mortgage markets is not just a goal in itself, but also a means to further the neoliberal agenda of private property, firms and growing profits. This chapter discusses the geographies of mortgage markets. The patterns and structures of mortgage lending reflect uneven socioeconomic geographies but also contribute to re/producing uneven development and this takes place at different scales. This chapter focuses specifically on two scales: the urban geographies of mortgage lending and the international geography of mortgage funding. Once we start looking at the interaction of these geographies, we can begin to understand the crucial role of the mortgage market in the origins and spread of the global financial crisis. These geographies and the ensuing crisis will be discussed in terms of the financialization of home, which was enabled though regulated deregulation, securitization and credit scoring.

- by Manuel Aalbers
- •
- Credit Scoring, Securitization, Housing Policy, Housing

"ARE CREDIT SCORES RELIABLE"? Credit Scoring, hasn't been around that long, but when evaluating risk, it is a tool that is used more frequently then most realized. However, the real question that should be asked is, Do Credit Scores... more

- by malav shah
- •
- Finance, Subprime Mortgage Crisis
- by Peter Eigner
- •
- Real Estate, Economics, Real Estate Economics, Great Depression
- by Christopher Breay
- •
- Real Estate, Corporate Law, Housing, Civil Litigation

During historic times of turmoil and change, social scientists of various stripes are often called upon to shape our understanding of ways mortgage markets function. The question is asked; just how did we get here? Subprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets presents a collection of works from social scientists that offer important insights into what is happening in today’s mortgage market including the causes, effects, and aftermath of the ‘subprime’ mortgage crisis. In addition to shedding light on how the current housing crisis has spread to other sectors of the economy, readings address the mortgage market itself and how problems have spread throughout mortgage and housing markets. Various chapters address changes that have resulted in the subprime mortgage crisis; others focus on the structural changes in the mortgage market, rather than on the crisis itself. Documentation of the geographical, social, and institutional inequalities associated with the crisis reveal how the recent mortgage boom created ‘subprime cities’, and how the victims of the crisis are the product of deep structural inequalities. This book is a provocative wake-up call for us to reconsider the structures of housing finance and housing policy if we are to avoid another crisis.

- by Bernard Paulre
- •
- Economics, Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Epistemology

The tenets of neoliberalism that focus on the privatisation and on an unfettered free market have their gothic manifestation in the relationship between the house and the American family in the world after the 2010 mortgage crisis. This... more

- by Karen Macfarlane
- •
- Gothic Studies, Neoliberalism, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, American Horror Story