The Subprime Solution: How Today’s Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to do about It

  • Robert J. Shiller | Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics, Yale University

The subprime mortgage crisis has already wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people and now it threatens to derail the U.S. economy and economies around the world. Much of this crisis comes from the “irrational exuberance” that drove the economy’s two most recent bubbles-in stocks in the 1990’s and in housing between 2000 and 2007. These bubbles led to the dangerous overextension of credit and a global credit crunch and to restore confidence in the market short-term bailouts are needed. In the longer term, the subprime solution will require steps to revamp the financial framework to inhibit the formation of bubbles and limit risks. How? With a variety of steps than include: simplified legal contracts and regulations, an expansion of markets for managing risks, home equity insurance policies, income-linked home loans, and new measures to protect consumers against hidden inflationary effects. We know how we created the subprime mess—and now we can see the way out.

Speaker Details

Robert J. Shiller is an American economist, teacher and the author of many books and articles, including national bestsellers Irrational Exuberance and The New Financial Order. Shiller received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D from MIT, and has held faculty positions at the Wharton School and the University of Minnesota. He has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1980, was Vice President of the American Economic Association in 2005 and President of the Eastern Economic Association for 2006-2007.

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