TIME's Best Inventions of 2008

The Other 49 Best Inventions

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12. Housing Funds

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Want to bet against your house? It's been possible ever since the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched house-price futures and options in 2006. But futures and options aren't investment products for the masses. So MacroMarkets, co-founded by economist Robert Shiller, plans this month to offer the first exchange-traded funds — bought and sold like stocks — that will allow buyers to bet on whether house prices will rise or fall.

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