An economic professor from the University of California at Berkeley is proposing a program to encourage buyers to get going by selling them low-cost insurance to protect their down payments.

James A. Wilcox argues in an op-ed piece in Wednesday's New York Times that buyers who are fearful of losing money if they buy would be more willing to take the chance if they knew they could get back at least their down payment. He suggests they also could sign over the protection to the seller as a way to bring down the price of a house. He envisions a 1-point purchase price for the insurance.

"At the end of three years, the government would automatically mail checks to protected homeowners if average house prices in their area were lower than when they purchased their homes. (No decline, no check — just like auto insurance.)," Wilcox wrote.

The government, Wilcox contends, is the only one big enough to run such a program until its benefits are proven.