I'm not a fan of the provided definition of "bubble" as it's a purely statistical definition, free of any causal factors. You know there's a bubble when you se

I'm not a fan of the provided definition of "bubble" as it's a purely statistical definition, free of any causal factors. You know there's a bubble when you see it pop; the boom is inflated by the misallocation capital which sows the seeds of its eventual bust. The best one can hope for it to look for things which cause systemic misallocation of capital within a market. Without claiming there's a bubble, I do find it interesting that factors leading to the misallocation of resources in the housing sector -- near-zero interest rates, government-subsidized/guaranteed loans, an "everyone should be able to own a home" political mindset, etc. -- very closely parallels the current situation in higher education. The only thing missing is the ability to securitize college loans, leverage them to the hilt, insure them, and then wait for the eventual government bail-out when the music stops.