The American Housing Survey AHS (2001, 2005, and 2009) is used to examine the growth in the supply of vacant residential real estate and potential overcrowding in occupied units in the years leading up to and during the housing price crash. The information is used to measure the extent of the...

A decrease in home values should make the purchase of new homes attractive to potential buyers. However, many home buyers rely on the sale of a previous home for the down payment on their new purchase. The decline in home prices between 2005 and 2009 is associated with a 40.0% reduction in the...

The impact of changes in market mortgage interest rates on the average mortgage interest rate for all owner-occupied homes depends on the rate of new mortgage originations. The combination of low interest rates and robust mortgage originations after 2001 led to a 1400 basis point decrease in the...

This paper examines differences in estimates of the incidence of household negative net worth from two surveys – the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The paper provides separate estimates for renters and homeowners. The paper also provides...

Expanded use of credit unions would benefit savers, borrowers, insurance funds, taxpayers, and the financial system. Specific advantages created by the expanded use of credit unions include: higher interest rates to savers, lower interest rates to borrowers, less credit rationing during periods...

This note uses data from the Household Component of the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) for 1999 and 2006 to examine trend growth in household out-of-pocket health expenditures. Tabulations are presented for three different categories of insurance coverage - households where the...

Several researchers have argued that the Current Population Survey (CPS) undercounts the number of individuals on public insurance and as a result overstates the number of individuals who are uninsured. This paper compares survey estimates from the CPS to estimates from the Medical Expenditures...

Congress and the Administration are considering the possibility of taxing excessive employer sponsored insurance (ESI) benefits. This paper considers issues associated with the proposed tax on generous ESI plans. The primary purpose of a tax on ESI benefits is to restrain the growth of health...

This paper uses the prisoner's dilemma game to explain why the financial services industry refuses to provide financial relief to homeowners even though the failure to provide meaningful relief has exacerbated the decline in home prices and has led to more foreclosures and losses for the industry

This paper examines the impact of home ownership on mobility and three labor market outcomes – unemployment, under-employment, and duration of unemployment in the United States over the 2005 to 2008 time period. The model used in this paper allows for estimation of a separate home ownership...