> But it was the financial institutions that fomented the current crisis, by creating risky products, encouraging excessive borrowing among consumers and engagi

> But it was the financial institutions that fomented the current crisis, by creating risky products, encouraging excessive borrowing among consumers and engaging in high-risk behavior themselves, like amassing huge positions in mortgage-backed securities, Allen says. < Which is probably a big reason why many economists weren't watching harder. If the banks are reporting things are fine while incentivizing bad loans on the down low then it's not especially surprising that a data driven field was caught offguard by tainted information.