The spring 2008 expert pronouncements that the worst of the housing finance crisis was behind us now look similar to the spring 2007 declarations that the subprime debacle was contained. Returning panelists at this fourth conference in the Deflating Bubble discussion series have shown no such optimism. AEI scholar and economist Desmond Lachman predicted early on that the bust would become a major issue in the 2008 election, and New York University professor of economics Nouriel Roubini long ago forecast that aggregate losses would double the previous worst-case-scenario estimates.

Recently, Wellesley College professor of economics Karl E. Case--cofounder of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index--announced that house prices may have bottomed out. Good news, if accurate. Joining Lachman and Roubini to address this and other questions, such as where the actual “bottom” may lie and what impact the bailouts will have, will be John H. Makin of AEI and Caxton Associates; R. Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics; and Thomas Zimmerman, managing director at UBS Investment Bank. AEI resident fellow Alex J. Pollock will moderate.

This event is cosponsored by AEI and the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association.