Russ Roberts On The Financial Crisis

See The housing boom and bust, part 2. He makes a good case that government policies helped cause the rapid rise in home prices starting in the mid-1990s. The government, through Fannie Mae, lowered standards for loans. The meant more loans and more demand for houses. This helped create the bubble. Also, banks knew they could sell mortagages with lower standards to Fannie Mae. He admits that government was not the whole problem, but that they contributed to it significantly.