Bloomberg News has a great interview with Robert Shiller. Shiller is probably in as good a position as anyone to assess the impact of the real estate market on consumer psychology. He’s a Yale professor known for research in behavior finance as well as real estate. (For more information, check out the Wikipedia article on behavioral finance.) Shiller concludes that it’s more likely than not that the U.S. economy will enter a recession because of the unwinding of the housing boom. (Thanks to Mark Thoma at Economist’s View for the link.)
Business Strategy Implications: I’m not as pessimistic as Shiller, but his view is plausible, and argues strongly for contingency planning even outside of the housing supply chain.