No Freedom Without Regulation: The Hidden Lesson of the Subprime Crisis

Harvard law professor and property law expert Singer composes a fascinating treatise on property regulation that illuminates conundrums plaguing homeowners and bankers alike. Singer shows how the liberties Americans cherish are actually the products of a complex infrastructure of laws and regulations dating to pre-colonial times. Governments, laws, and regulations, in his view, do not restrict freedom, but allow it to flourish. A simple liberty like home ownership would not be possible without laws ensuring fair access to housing, safe construction, responsible use, and neighborhoods without blight or eyesores. To Singer, the subprime crisis of the Great Recession is an excellent test of this theory. After cutting corners and transferring titles to property without keeping good records, banks could not foreclose and recover the value of their loans. Likewise, homeowners could not prevent the foreclosure of the properties in which they lived, as there was no clear record of the party with whom they might renegotiate their loan. Singer suggests that Libertarians and Tea Party members who favor severe limits on government hold a view of governmental power that is romantic, naive, and ultimately detrimental to freedom. His book persuasively argues that the opposite of government is not freedom, but anarchy. (Sept.)