We study the key drivers of security design in the residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) market during the run-up to the subprime mortgage crisis. We show that deals with a higher level of equity tranche have a significantly lower delinquency rate conditional on observable loan...

Using detailed data for homeowners in the U.S., we document a negative, non-linear relation between the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of the primary residence and labor income. Consistent with constrained mobility for high LTV individuals, we find stronger effects among sub-prime, liquidity...