Potential home buyers have a two-step decision process. First, they determine whether they can afford to make a purchase - does their income safely cover their mortgage payment? Then they determine whether owning is a better financial choice than renting - are the costs of owning a home lower than the cost of renting it?

Distressed properties are often vacant and in disrepair, and thus sold at significant discounts. As the share of distressed sales grows, home prices fall.

The Obama administration deserves credit for quickly ending the housing free fall. In particular, Obama empowered the Federal Housing Administration to ensure that households could find mortgages at low interest rates even during the worst phase of the financial panic.

Yes. I don't think it would be appropriate at this point to raise taxes on anyone, certainly not in 2011.

Predicting recessions is indeed a dark art, but I think we are several years away from the next one.

They called me the sexiest economist in America, and that was years ago, when I had hair and body mass and my teeth were shiny.

We need to get rid of the debt ceiling law. It's anachronistic and it's a problem.