Great article by Mian and Sufi explaining that debt levels are what is depressing demand, and costing 65% of the jobs lost in the current mini-Depression. Key point, which they reach by examining county-by-county variations in housing price declines:
"Our research suggests that 65 percent of the job losses from 2007 to 2009 came from the drop in household spending induced by the collapse in home prices and its effect on a highly levered household sector."
A related presentation of some of their details is here. Not a surprising conclusion, but the way they prove it is clever.
