Kindleberger’s Manias Kindleberger, the late economic historian who taught for 33 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is famed for his 1978 book “Manias, Panics and Crashes.” The work traced four centuries of boom-and-bust cycles, bringing to light a 17th century frenzy over Dutch tulips that sent investors offering land, houses, farm animals and gold in return for choice bulbs. The severity of today’s housing bust, and the resulting collapse in credit, indicate that the U.S. won’t soon emerge from the already yearlong recession, according to Rosenberg. “What we know about periods of asset deflation and credit contraction is that the impact on the economy tends to last for years not quarters,” he said, projecting housing is likely to contract through the end of 2009.