Austrian Theory for Everyone - Wladimir Kraus - Mises Institute

Austrian Theory for Everyone - Wladimir Kraus - Mises Institute: "Woods points out that to blame 'the crisis on 'greed' is like blaming plane crashes on gravity' and that ''excessive risk-taking' simply begs the question.' It is almost self-evident that both 'greed' and 'excessive risk-taking' are extremely limited in their explanatory powers, for they cannot account for the weight of specific facts and institutional circumstances that determined the unique path the housing bubble travelled. Instead, Woods chooses a far more promising avenue by asking two crucial questions:

'What institutional factors gave rise to all the foolish lending and borrowing in the first place?'

'Why did banks have so much money available to lend in the mortgage market — so much indeed that they could throw it even at applicants who lacked jobs, income, down payment money, and good credit?'"