AMERICAN
NIGHTMARE
Dedicated to the memory of my friend Chris Walker, whose work on land-use and transportation issues should inspire everyone who supports free markets and freedom of choice.
Copyright © 2012 by the Cato Institute.
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
O’Toole, Randal.
American nightmare : how government undermines the dream of home ownership / by Randal O’Toole.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-937184-88-9 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Home ownership—United States. 2. Housing policy—United States. 3. House buying—United States. I. Title.
HD7287.82.U6O86 2012
333.33′80973—dc23
2012012197
Printed in the United States of America.
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Contents
INTRODUCTION
1. The Pre–American Dream
2. The Agrarian Dream
3. The Urban Dream
4. The Suburban Dream
5. The New Deal Dream
6. The Postwar Dream
7. Questioning the Dream
8. Low-Income Dreams
9. Spoiling the Dream
10. The Urban–Renewal Dream
11. The Housing Market
12. The Housing Bubble
13. The American Nightmare
14. The World Dream
15. The Future of the American Dream
NOTES
INDEX
Figures
Figure 3.1 Urban and Rural Share of U.S. Population, 1790–2000
Figure 4.1 U.S. Homeownership Rates, 1890–2010
Figure 10.2 Supply of Pedestrian-Friendly Housing
Figure 10.3 Supply of Pedestrian- and Auto-Friendly Housing
Figure 10.4 Demand for Pedestrian- and Auto-Friendly Housing
Figure 10.5 Alternative Demand for Pedestrian- and Auto-Friendly Housing
Figure 11.1 Elastic Housing Supply
Figure 11.2 Inelastic Housing Supply
Figure 12.1 Inflation-Adjusted State Home Price Indexes, 1995–2011
Figure 12.2 Changes in Home Prices after 1995 and after Peak
Figure 12.3 Metropolitan Area Housing Bubbles, 1995–2011
Figure 12.4 Metropolitan Areas with No Housing Bubbles, 1995–2011
Figure 12.5 California Housing Bubbles before 2000
Figure 12.6 State Housing Indexes before 2000 2
Figure 14.1 Inflation-Adjusted British Home Price Index, 1952–2008
Figure 14.2 European Home Price Indexes, 1998–2009
Tables
Table 9.1 Planning Regimes and 2009 Housing Prices
Table 11.1 Change in Number of Households by Income Class from 1989 to 2009
Table 12.1 Bubble and Nonbubble States