The recent financial crisis has generated many distinct perspectives from various quarters. In this article, I review a diverse set of 21 books on the crisis, 11 written by academics, and 10 written by journalists and one former Treasury Secretary. No single narrative emerges from this broad and...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (F&F) funded "conforming" mortgages with cheap debt no matter how little capital they had or how risky the loans due to their public “agency” status. Private label securitizers (PLSers) were able to compete during the last decade due to public deposit insurance and...