Economist Robert Shiller says the unrest in Europe is “weighing on our national psyche” and could ultimately impact the United States housing market.

The debt crisis in Greece “is a story about our problem indirectly because it’s the debt problem,” Shiller tells Fox Business Network. “These things are driven by confidence.”

“Those film shots of people rioting in the streets; it spreads to another European country which it well might. It is a story about our problem indirectly because it’s the debt problem and that’s weighing on our national psyche right now.”

Robert Shiller (Getty Images photo)

However, Shiller points out that the U.S. is a long way from being like Greece.

“This country has the best reputation financially in the world,” says Shiller. “That’s why treasuries are selling at such good prices despite our debt crisis because people see this as a stable country. It’s hard to knock the U.S. off the pedestal it has had for the past 100 years.”

Shiller says the U.S. housing market is still down on the 20-city index, but only incrementally.

“It’s too early to come to any conclusions,” he says. “We have been in a downtrend for five years. That’s why I haven’t been forecasting price declines further but it’s certainly a possibility that it’s not over.”

Reuters reports that the plunge in U.S. home prices showed signs of leveling off in April, but worries about unemployment pushed consumer confidence to a seven-month low in June.