The role of the housing market in the recent recession raised questions about similar episodes in economic history. Were the underlying causes of housing and mortgage crises the same in earlier episodes? How have previous policy interventions either damaged or improved long-run market performance and stability? This volume provides context for understanding recent events by examining how historical housing and mortgage markets worked - and how they sometimes failed. The editors survey the research on housing crises, comparing that of the 1930s to that of the 2000s in order to identify what contributed to each crisis.