This paper studies the responses among different types of mortgage brokers to occupational licensing regulations. By explicitly accounting for heterogeneities between sole and corporate brokers, we find evidence that sole brokers respond to financial regulatory oversight by applying a more...

In this study, we examine the relationship between investor demand for IPOs prior to offerings and aftermarket performance of IPO firms during the period from 1993 to 1997 in the Hong Kong stock market. The paper finds that IPOs with high investor demand have large positive initial returns but...

In this study, we examine the relation between investor demand for IPOs prior to offerings and aftermarket performance of IPO firms in the Hong Kong stock market. The paper finds that IPOs with high investor demand have large positive initial returns but negative long-run excess returns, while...

We examine if Standard & Poor's (S&P) credit rating action reports contain new default-related information beyond credit rating actions such as rating changes, Credit Watch and Outlook. We find that the net linguistic tone (negative minus positive tone) in the reports is significantly and...

Using a unique sample of comparable online and in-person loan transactions, we study the determinants of arm's-length and inside lending focusing on the differential information content across debt types. We find that soft private information primarily underlies relationship lending whereas hard...

We examine the effect of direct mail (commonly referred to as junk mail) advertising on individual financial decisions by studying consumer choice of home equity debt contracts. Consistent with the theoretical predictions, we find that financial variables underlying the relative pricing of debt...

Every year over 20 states offer sales tax holidays (STHs) on specific items like clothes, shoes and other items to encourage consumption, effecting over 100 million consumers. We use a unique dataset of credit cards transaction to study the spending response to these holidays. Using a...

A number of studies have pointed to various mistakes that consumers might make in their consumption-saving and financial decisions. We utilize a unique market experiment conducted by a large U.S. bank to assess how systematic and costly such mistakes are in practice. The bank offered consumers a...

The main rationale for policy intervention in debt renegotiation is to enhance such activity when foreclosures are perceived to be inefficiently high. We examine the ability of the government to influence debt renegotiation by empirically evaluating the effects of the 2009 Home Affordable...

Refinancing a mortgage is often one of the biggest and most important financial decisions that people make. Borrowers need to choose the interest rate differential at which to refinance and, when that differential is reached, they need to take the steps to refinance before rates change again....