Kevin Erdmann

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Senior Affiliated Scholar
Kevin Erdmann is a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is currently engaged in two book projects with Mercatus on housing finance, land use restrictions, and monetary policy. His first book, Shut Out (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), offers a contrarian theory on the causes of the housing boom and bust. Reviews of Shut Out have appeared in the Economic Record, Regulation, and the Washington Examiner.
Erdmann’s work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the National Review, and Politico, and it has been featured on C-SPAN. Erdmann also blogs at Idiosyncratic Whisk, where he published many of his original discoveries about the housing boom and the financial crisis as he began to investigate them. Eventually that evidence accumulated to form a comprehensive new paradigm through which to view the economy and financial markets, and Erdmann now develops and communicates the lessons of this new framework for policymakers, investors, and firms.
Erdmann was a small business owner for 17 years. He holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of Arizona.
Latest Work
- | Financial Markets Financial Markets
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
A Suggested Mortgage Amortization Structure: Fixed Amortization, Adjustable Principal
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
A Conversation on Lending Standards and Access to Housing

- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The ‘Kicking Ourselves When We’re Down’ Century
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
How the Fed Should Be Helping Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Housing Prices Are Going Up. Must They Crash?
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Interest Rates and Home Prices
Latest Work
- | Financial Markets Financial Markets
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
A Suggested Mortgage Amortization Structure: Fixed Amortization, Adjustable Principal
- | Mercatus Original Podcasts Mercatus Original Podcasts
A Conversation on Lending Standards and Access to Housing

- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The ‘Kicking Ourselves When We’re Down’ Century
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
How the Fed Should Be Helping Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Housing Prices Are Going Up. Must They Crash?
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Interest Rates and Home Prices
Latest Work
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
A Conceptual Starting Point for Housing Affordability and Public Policy

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Does Homeownership Really Increase Household Liabilities?

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Because of Housing, All Taxes on Capital Tend to Be Regressive

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Income Tax Benefits to Homeowners Are Regressive

- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Are Property Taxes Regressive?

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Low Property Taxes and Obstructed Housing Supply Are a Bad Mix

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Property Taxes Can Be a Tax on Monopoly Power

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Property Taxes Are Rent to a Public Landlord

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Tight Lending Regulations are a Wealth Subsidy

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Squeezing Unqualified Borrowers
