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
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
U.S. Data on Housing Starts Can Be Misleading
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
U.S. Data on Housing Starts Can Be Misleading

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Cities Need a Building Boom To Avoid a Housing Bubble
- | Housing Housing
- | Research Papers Research Papers
Build More Houses
- | Radio Appearance Radio Appearance
Kevin Erdman on Marketplace - Fannie and Freddy
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
A New Wrinkle in the Housing Market

- | Monetary Policy Monetary Policy
- | Research Papers Research Papers
Housing Policy, Monetary Policy, and the Great Recession
- | Financial Markets Financial Markets
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Get Cash to More Families That Need It Now: Give Banks More Discretion to Make Home Equity Loans and Refinance Mortgages
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
How Mortgages Can Ease the Downturn
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The Unbuildable American Home
Latest Work
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
U.S. Data on Housing Starts Can Be Misleading
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
U.S. Data on Housing Starts Can Be Misleading

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Cities Need a Building Boom To Avoid a Housing Bubble
- | Housing Housing
- | Research Papers Research Papers
Build More Houses
- | Radio Appearance Radio Appearance
Kevin Erdman on Marketplace - Fannie and Freddy
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
A New Wrinkle in the Housing Market

- | Monetary Policy Monetary Policy
- | Research Papers Research Papers
Housing Policy, Monetary Policy, and the Great Recession
- | Financial Markets Financial Markets
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Get Cash to More Families That Need It Now: Give Banks More Discretion to Make Home Equity Loans and Refinance Mortgages
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
How Mortgages Can Ease the Downturn
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The Unbuildable American Home
Latest Work
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The Myth about Bubble Buyers

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Rising Prices, Lower Rents; Rising Rents, Rising Prices

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Real Estate Investment Doesn’t Increase Spending

- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Homeowners Make the Best Landlords

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
What Are Landlords Good For?

- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Thinking Clearly About Housing Affordability

- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
How to keep low-income families in Los Angeles
- | Monetary Policy Monetary Policy
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Was the Financial Crisis Actually Caused by a Housing Shortage?

- | Financial Markets Financial Markets
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Rich Cities Created the Housing Shortage
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Amazon HQ2 Decision Shines Light on Urban Housing Issues
