Books in the NBER-Long Term Factors (CHUP) series

Using transaction cost analysis and public choice theory, this book explores the growth of the federal bureaucracy and the political and economic obstacles to reforming it. It examines the political and economic forces that have shaped the civil service from the Pendleton Act of 1883 to today.

Tells the story of the disastrous housing market during the Great Depression and the extent to which an immensely popular New Deal relief program, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), was able to stem foreclosures by buying distressed mortgages from lenders and refinancing them.