Financial capability refers to the study of a person’s knowledge of financial products, their understanding of their own financial position and their ability to choose products appropriate to that position along with their ability to plan ahead financially and to seek and act on appropriate...

Understanding the true scale of the difficulties in the Irish mortgage market is of key importance from a financial stability, fiscal and social perspective. To date, much of the analysis and discussion of the Irish market has tended to focus on either the concept of mortgage repayment distress...

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of Irish mortgage arrears using a new loan-level dataset which incorporates data from four Irish banks. We identify the main characteristics of accounts in arrears and examine the role of ability-to-pay and equity factors in the recent hike in...

In this paper we avail of new data in studies of financial capability conducted separately in the United Kingdom and Ireland to model the determinants of individuals’ attitudes to risk. These risk attitudes are explored explicitly in the context of savings and investments and are modelled on...

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we present an up-to-date assessment of the differences across euro area countries in the distributions of various measures of debt conditional on household characteristics. We consider three different outcomes: the probability of holding debt, the amount...

A distinguishing feature of the period preceding the 2007/08 financial crisis was the sizeable increase in private sector debt observed across many countries. A key component of household liabilities is mortgage debt and with many countries experiencing persistent increases in house prices from...

Despite various efforts to address the mortgage arrears crisis, arrears remain at an elevated level. Designing policies to deal with such high levels of distress requires a deep understanding of the precise sources of the problem. Efforts to date, however, have been hampered by a lack of...

Using a new nationally representative survey of financial capability and experience in the UK and Ireland, I investigate the key factors that cause individuals to experience financial distress. In this context, a key area that I focus on is whether individuals’ behavioural traits, such as...

Using a large panel data set on the population of UK mortgage loans by Irish-headquartered banks, this paper presents a transitions-based model of mortgage default. The estimation departs from cross-sectional methods typically used in mortgage default models, in that the transition both into and...

Recent increases in financial innovation, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon banking culture, have seen a considerable growth in the amount of financial products available to the general public. Simultaneously, many workers are increasingly assuming responsibility for planning for their future...