This paper reviews recent research on mortgage default, focusing on the relationship of this research to the recent … foreclosure crisis. Research on defaults was advanced both theoretically and empirically by the time the crisis began, but … explicitly addressing reverse causality between rising foreclosures and falling house prices. Mortgage defaults were also a key …

This paper takes a skeptical look at a leading argument about what is causing the foreclosure crisis and what should be … done to stop it. We use an economic model to focus on two key decisions: the borrower's choice to default on the mortgage … illustrate that "unaffordableʺ loans, defined as those with high mortgage payments relative to income at origination, are …