Borrowing to Live

A Brookings Institution Press and Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies publication Americans are awash in debt, and the U.S. economy is in trouble. Credit undergirds daily life more than everit has become one of the defining aspects of American life, and the ramifications are becoming clearer by the day. The already considerable damage from a depressed housing market has been exacerbated by the subprime lender implosion, sending shock waves through the financial sector, internatio