He has written extensively on the development of the U.S. mortgage market before 1940, and in 2006 edited the chapter “Construction, Housing and Mortgages” in the Millennial Edition of the Historical Statistics of the United States (Cambridge University Press). He is currently working on issues related to the mortgage crisis of the 1930s including the transition from Building&Loans to Savings&Loans and the impacts of New Deal mortgage programs. He holds a B.S. in economics from East Tennessee State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.