FYI: Mortgage meltdown

Losses on outstanding mortgages from the American subprime crisis ultimately could total $400 billion, with leveraged U.S. financial institutions bearing about half of the damage, according to a paper by Princeton economics professor Hyun Song Shin and economists from the University of Chicago, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. The study, presented at a conference in late February, also predicts a “substantial reduction” in credit to American businesses and households, which could slow the growth of the gross domestic product. The Wall Street Journal called the research “one of the most exhaustive efforts to date to pinpoint the extent and impact of mortgage losses,” and noted that earlier, more optimistic estimates had predicted subprime losses of $100 billion or less.