Tim at the Seattle Bubble Blog has more: Robert Shiller at SPU—Psychology and the Housing Market
One amusing part of the afternoon session was a story Dr. Shiller related about a localized Los Angeles housing bubble in 1885. In describing the mentality in 1885 Los Angeles, he said that people thought “Los Angeles is special!” He also quoted from an article in the LA Times which was published during the aftermath of the collapse in 1886:
We Californians have learned something. And that is that home prices can’t just go up forever—they have to be supported by something. Never again will Californians make this mistake.
And it’s worth saying again: Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
Tags: bitching