People say the crash of 2008 was unpredictable, even by economists. Wrong! Here are two economists - both Georgists - who independently predicted the crash and the reasons for it, up to a decade in advance. See how economics works, when it is actually treated as a science, capable of making predictions. But instead of being awarded, these 2 economists lost to a more mainstream economist who didn't challenge the core system.

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Abstract

In 2010 there was a contest to discover and recognize the economists who foresaw and warned of the crash that came in 2008. Fred Foldvary foretold the crash exceptionally early and exceptionally precisely, writing in a refereed journal article in 1997: "the next major bust, 18 years after the 1990 downturn, will be around 2008, if there is no major interruption such as a global war." Although Foldvary was nominated for the prize by some thirteen separate individuals, his name was excluded by the prize organizers. Instead the prize went to two of the "family" members of the prize organization, and one other person. I compare the predictions by the prize-winning "family" members to the prediction by Foldvary. The ideas represented by Foldvary's research deserve attention.

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Authors Website: http://masongaffney.org/

Authors Bio:
Mason
Gaffney first read Henry George when a high school junior , and became notorious among his classmates for preaching
LVT to them . H e served in the S.W.
Pacific during W.W. II, where he observed the
results of land monopoly in The Philippines, on which he later wrote.  He
came back to get a Ph.D. in Economics at Berkeley, where he tried to
meet his teachers' skepticism and apathy with a dissertation, "Land
Speculation as an Obstacle to Ideal Allocation of Land." Since then he has
published many books and articles on land use, economics, taxation, and public
policy. He has been a Professor of Economics at several Universities; a
journalist with TIME, Inc.; a researcher with Resources for the Future, Inc.;
the head of the British Columbia Institute for Economic Policy Analysis, which
he founded; an economic consultant to several businesses and government
agencies; and a frequent speaker on economic topics, domestic and foreign, and
in political campaigns. He has been Professor of Economics at U.C. Riverside
since 1976. He is proud to have survived, bloodied
but unbowed, muffled but never silenced, knocked down but never out, frequent political
and academic and personal attacks based on his outspoken and well-researched advocacy
of Georgist and related views and causes.