# Professor Lawrence White discusses the causes of the recession

1 Faculty News October 2, 2016 ![PolitiFact logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_030740.jpg?itok=AksI8GU5)>

Excerpt from [PolitiFact](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/02/hillary-clinton/hillary-clintons-base-linkage-tax-cuts-and-great-r/) -- "\[Risky mortgages\], in turn, led to the 'end of a housing boom, a sharp decline in housing prices, widespread mortgage defaults, widespread mortgage securities defaults, and a lack of assets to cover the losses at nine large financial institutions -- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, the CitiCorp holding company, and the AIG holding company,' said [Lawrence White](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/lawrence-white), an economist at New York University’s Stern School of Business."

[Read more](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/02/hillary-clinton/hillary-clintons-base-linkage-tax-cuts-and-great-r/)