The Great American Recession resulted in the loss of eight million jobs between 2007 and 2009. More than four million homes were lost to foreclosures. Is it a coincidence that the United States witnessed a dramatic rise in household debt in the years before the recession - that the total amount of debt for American households doubled between 2000 and 2007 to $14 trillion? Definitely not. Armed with clear and powerful evidence, Atif Mian and Amir Sufi in House of Debt reveal how the Great Recession and Great Depression, as well as the recent economic malaise in Europe, were caused by a large run up in household debt followed by a significantly large drop in household spending. Mian and Sufi argue strongly with real data that current policy that is too heavily biased toward protecting banks and creditors, with the goal of increasing the flow of credit, a response that is disastrously counterproductive when the fundamental problem is actually too much debt. Thoroughly grounded in compelling economic evidence, House of Debt offers convincing answers to some of the most important questions facing the modern economy today: Why do severe recessions happen? Could we have prevented the Great Recession and its consequences? And what actions are needed to prevent such crises going forward?

About the Author
Atif Mian is the Theodore A. Wells '29 Professor of Economics at Princeton University and director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance. Amir Sufi is the Chicago Board of Trade Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Reviews
"Distills lessons about the crisis from their recent research into one easily digestible package." (Economist) "The economists Mian and Sufi are our leading experts on the problems created by debt overhang." (Paul Krugman, New York Review of Books) "A concise and powerful account of how the great recession happened and what should be done to avoid another one." (Wall Street Journal) "The most important economics book of the year." (Lawrence Summers, Financial Times) "Mian and Sufi deserve credit of another kind for detalling how ensnared the American Dream is in this tangled web of debt finance-and how exposed the vast majority of us are to the broader economic consequences." (Atlantic)



Book Information
ISBN 9780226271651
Author Atif Mian
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 400g
Dimensions(mm) 227mm * 157mm * 15mm