From 2002 to 2006, the share of the American economy devoted to residential construction rose by 1.2 percentage points of GDP above its previous trend value, before plunging as the United States entered the greatest economic crisis in nearly a century. According to my rough calculations, the excess investment in the housing sector during this period totaled some $500 billion – by any measure a tiny fraction of the world economy at the time of the crash.
发自伯克利——当泡沫膨胀时，其规模还不算太大。在随美国遭遇近一个世纪以来最严重经济危机而暴跌之前的2002~2006年间，经济中住宅建筑占GDP的份额仅比先前的趋势值高出了1.2%。据笔者的粗略计算，这一时期住房领域的过度投资总额约为5000亿美元——无论怎样计算，都不过崩溃时世界经济总规模的一小部分而已。