Using propensity score matching and survival analysis, we examine the performance of FHA- and privately-insured home purchase mortgages relative to uninsured mortgages. Privately-insured loans are more likely to default than uninsured loans with comparable risk characteristics, indicating the...

Discrimination in mortgage lending is often measured by differences in the share of applications denied by lenders. However, incomplete information on the applicant characteristics typically used in mortgage underwriting creates an omitted variable bias that can overstate the prevalence of...