The Return Of Depression Economics And The Crisis - 977 Words

Paul Krugman an American economist, Nobel Prize Winner and Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and is ranked among the most influential economic thinkers in the US.1 In his book The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 Krugman examines the economic crisis of 2008. He asserts that there were many tale tell signs and warnings throughout history that could have mitigated the crisis. Krugman contends that through history all financial crisis had common elements. The panic of 1907, the Great Depression, the Savings and Loan problems in the 1980’s, the Latin American Crisis and the Asian Crisis of the 1990’s all shared the†¦show more content†¦Greenspan and a bi-partisan congress, the Glass-Steagall Act which was initiated in 1933 to separate and regulate commercial banks and investment banks differently was repealed, thus allowing commercial banks to act like investment banks with little oversight.3 Without regulation to worry them, banks found a favorable environment to take on more risk than otherwise allowed. This leads into the answer of why banks would loan to people of poor risk. With loose regulations investment banks were buying MBS’s from banks and mortgage brokers, repackaging and reselling them to institutional investors, insurance companies, pension funds, university endowments and hedge funds.4 Without worrying about if or when a borrower would default on a loan, banks and mortgage brokers qualified people for loans who would under normal circumstances would never qualify. After September 11, 2001 Allen Greenspan lowered interest rates, resulting in a frenzy of new home loans between 2001 and 2004. Many mortgages financed with a variable interest rate to people who bought much more home than needed at a time when home values had already increased at an unsustainable rate. Borrowers not acting responsibly, overleveraged themselves with teaser rates and low down payments, achieving the American dream had never been so easy. Banks and mortgage brokers were incented to approve as many mortgages as possible as they were making money on both ends. A buyer paid originationShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 1078 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008, Paul Krugman warns us that America’s gloomy future might parallel those of other countries. Like diseases that are making a stronger, more resistant comeback, the causes of the Great Depression are looming ahead and much more probable now after the great housing bubble in 2002. In his new and revised book, he emphasizes even more on the busts of Japan and the crises in Latin America (i.e: Argentina), and explains how and why several specificRead MoreThe Return Of Depression Economics1437 Words   |  6 Pages2008 Economics Noble Prize winner and Princeton University professor, Paul Krugman, translates the roots of modern and prior financial crisis economics. 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