Since the financial crisis has been caused by falling housing prices, some people (including John McCain) have argued that the government should take steps to prop up housing prices. Harvard economist Edward Glaeser and Wharton economist Joseph Gyourko think this is a bad idea.
“Housing affordability has long been a stated goal of the Federal government,” observe G&G in the Economists’ Voice, an on-line journal edited by Joseph Stiglitz. “Why should it now try to make it more difficult for people to buy, or rent, a home by supporting prices?”
