The 2000s saw a massive housing bubble that, when popped, gave us the financial crisis and Great Recession. For decades, the federal government incentivized home-ownership and encouraged banks to write mortgages for people who might otherwise have been unable to afford them. The ability of these new homeowners to make payments rested on the continued rise of home values and a thriving economy. It was a virtuous cycle that quickly turned vicious: The higher home prices got, the greater the incentive to buy — and the greater the incentive to buy, the more people entered the market who really shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

The changes in economic incentives coincided with a shift in culture. Homes were transformed from a long-term investment, a place to put down roots and raise a family, to just another asset that could be “flipped” for a short-term profit. As was happening in so many parts of our politics, society, and culture, emphasis was placed on immediate gratification over delayed benefit. You could get a mortgage with no money down, wait a year or two, and sell the property at profit. Or at least that was the idea.