The fallout from the financial crisis of 2008 included an overheated real estate market, fueled by home purchase incentives, poor lending practices, and securitization through high-risk, mortgage-backed securities, which led to a near-collapse of global capital markets. As a consequence, many have argued that if the financial institutions had been required to report their loans (and loan-backed investments) at fair value instead of cost, large losses would have been reported earlier. This would have signaled regulators to the problems in the mortgage markets and therefore minimized the losses to U.S. taxpayers. Explain how reported accounting numbers might affect an individual’s perceptions and actions. Cite two examples.

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A mortgage can be defined as a loan instrument used to raise additional fin... View the full answer