Bernanke’s Housing-Market Meddling Tarnishes Trust: Amity Shlaes
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Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- In 2009, an economist named PaolaSapienza came up with an image to describe the challenge theU.S. economy faced after the financial crisis. The economy waslike a board game, Sapienza, a professor at NorthwesternUniversity, told me. Especially like the old favorite“Monopoly.”
Despite the name, “Monopoly” isn’t really about antitrust.It’s about trust. Trust and commerce, Sapienza said. If peoplewant to buy properties, if renters pay their rents and the bankacts predictably, then the game will move merrily forward, andhotels will replace houses on the board.