If you still believe that the subprime and financial crisis was caused by capitalism gone wild, here are some of the very best studies, talks and articles about the government’s responsibilities:

John Taylor is Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He is best known for the “Taylor-Rule”, his idea about what an optimal monetary policy should look like. In his latest book “Getting Off Track”, he tries to prove “How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis”. Watch him talk about it at Uncommon Knowledge:

Crisis Management with John Taylor: Chapter 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

“Economist John Taylor discusses today’s financial crisis – which he labels the most ‘unusual’ crisis since the Great Depression.”

You can read the most important chapters of the book here:

The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong – November 2008

A Black Swan in the Money Market / Further Results

The Cato Journal has a highly recommendable special issue on the crisis featuring many experts: Lessons From The Subprime Crisis.

Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr. on Greenspan’s defense of his own policies in the Wall Street Journal: Did the Fed Cause the Housing Bubble?

Watch Jim Powell from Cato talk about the Great Depression and the Subprime Crisis at C-Span.

Lawrence White is Professor of Economic History at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In a Cato Paper he tries to answer the question: “How Did We Get into This Financial Mess?”. Also listen to an interesting and convincing speech by him here:

Lawrence White: The Subprime Crisis – Part 1 / Part 2

Stan Liebowitz is Professor of Economics at the University of Texas. His paper for the Independent Institute: Anatomy of a Train Wreck: Causes of the Mortgage Meltdown is a must-read.

Steve Forbes is CEO of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine. Watch him speak about the crisis at the Commonwealth Club of California.

On Reason TV you can watch a couple of videos on the bailout and the stimulus package.

Peter Wallison has written two books on Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Watch him speak about their role in creating this disaster at C-Span and about the crisis in general at Reason TV.

Economist Arnold Kling has worked for Freddie Mac. He explains how Fannie and Freddie worked at Econ Talk.

Watch stock broker and investment adviser Peter Schiff predict the coming crisis in 2006 and explain its roots at a meeting of the Western Regional Mortgage Bankers Association.

Johnny Munkhammar, Research Director at the European Enterprise Institute, has written a very readable paper on the crisis:

The Financial Crisis – A Gigantic Failure of Politics

Watch him speak about market reforms and the crisis (Part 2 / Part 3) at a conference in Tallinn, Estonia.

Med Yones, President of the International Institute of Management (IIM), also saw it coming: The Troubling U.S. Economy: Risks & Threats 2007-2017

Advertisement