2011/03/01 by Louis Hyman · 1 citation
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
paper · doi:10.1017/s1467222700009770
openalex publication_date 2011/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Today, in the aftermath of the subprime crisis, there is a foreboding sense that it is too easy for Americans to borrow. Living beyond our means on our cards and our mortgages, Americans borrowed at an unsustainable pace, and what put us here, the logic goes, was the unfortunate collision of lenders' greed and borrower's cupidity. Yet free-for-all borrowing defined another moment's economy as well, but without the ill consequences: the postwar period. After World War II, cheap credit underpinned the suburban prosperity, through government-insured loans, auto financing, and even department store Charga-Plates.