Bank regulators are required to consider a bank’s record of providing credit to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and individuals in approving bank applications for mergers and acquisitions. We test the hypothesis that banks strategically prepare for the regulatory and public scrutiny...

Anecdotal evidence that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) influences the lending behavior of financial institutions has not been uniformly supported by empirical research. We revisit this issue by evaluating changes in low-income mortgage lending at commercial banks over the 1992-96 period....

In 2009, banks became the reluctant holders of more than 1,500 foreclosed properties in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Most of these houses are in Cleveland, worth little to nothing, and in danger of remaining vacant for the foreseeable future - destined to define neighborhood decay.

This Economic Letter discusses some of the research on whether the CRA has helped alleviate any shortfall in LMI home purchase lending. Overall, the literature suggests that, while the effects of the CRA versus the effects of other developments are not easy to separate, access to credit for the...

Remarks to the National Community Reinvestment Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 20. 2006