Abstract
Over half a decade after the collapse of home prices in 2006, and with no shortage of books and essays on the ensuing crisis, the place of the housing bubble in political economic remains contested. Preoccupations of scholars have been high levels of income inequality model, through this brief essay I hope to highlight the usefulness of a debate that preoccupied geographers between the 1970s and 1990s, and suggest how theoretical and empirical work since, as well as the illuminating shock of the Great Recession, should compel us to interpret the political economic function of the housing bubble.
About the Author
Luis Flores is a doctoral student in sociology at the University of Michigan. A 2013-2014 recipient of the Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate prize, he worked in Oakland and San Francisco on issues of housing vulnerability, credit dependency, and property investments. Luis graduated from UC Berkeley in 2012 with degrees in history and political economy.