The usufruct mortgage has received little attention from economists. This paper develops and analyzes a theoretical framework in which the borrower, who mortgages out, and the lender, who mortgages in, a parcel of land reach their decisions in a risky environment when credit and land markets...

This paper discusses the determinants of and the barriers to formal saving both from the theoretical point of view and based on empirical evidence from various associated interventions and their possible effects at the micro and macroeconomic levels. It presents a comprehensive review of the...

This paper summarizes and outlines some interesting issues that arose during a recent workshop on Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Emerging Payments Research Group (EPRG) on July 25, 2008. Topics addressed are the consumer adoption of new...

If income pooling indicates primary earners' willingness to trade part of their income with spouses who earn less and work more in household production, then among specialized couples income pooling will be positively associated with the price of commercial domestic services, substitutes for...

In the context of a collective household choice model, we show that the effects of improved credit access on search intensity by the unemployed are heterogeneous across households and dependent on the within-household bargaining power of the unemployed. We find empirical support for the...

This paper presents a case study demonstrating the efficacy of Coverdell and §529 College Savings Plans. The paper also discusses other less advantageous vehicles for saving funds for the purpose of financing a child’s higher education. Among other benefits, the paper demonstrates the...

The existing literature suggests that when the saving decision of two-earner households under risk is analysed, standard results on the existence of precautionary saving no longer apply: precautionary saving is obtained if and only if very stringent conditions hold. This paper shows that when...

I show that an expansion of student loan supply affects parents' saving decisions and portfolio allocation. By exploiting policy-induced variation on expected student aid, I find a 2.2 pp increase in the parental saving rate, from 4.9% to 6.1%. The mechanism that drives this result is the...