Popping the housing bubble in Americans' minds

New York

SUPPOSE there were a way to pump up the economy, reduce inequality and put an end to destructive housing bubbles such as the one that contributed to the Great Recession. The idea would be simple, but not easy, requiring a wholesale reframing of the US economy and housing market.

The solution: Americans, together and all at once, would have to stop thinking about their homes as an investment.

The virtues of homeownership are so ingrained in the American psyche that we often forget t…