How tales of 'flippers' led to a housing bubble and economic flop

THERE is still no consensus on why the last housing boom and bust happened. That is troubling, because that violent housing cycle helped to produce the Great Recession and financial crisis of 2007-2009. We need to understand it all if we are going to be able to avoid ordeals like that in the future.

But the explanations for what happened in housing are not, I think, to be found in the conventional data favoured by economists but rather in sociologically important narratives - like tales of getting rich through "flipping" houses and shares of initial public offerings - that constitute the shifting mentality of the era.

Consider the data for a moment. It shows us that extreme changes took place but doesn't tell us why.