Securitization of loans and their sale to long-term investors has revolutionized many areas of finance: real estate, autos, consumer credit. But despite many efforts, it has not taken hold in community development financing. The obstacles to creating a secondary market for community development...

Some scholars argue that the state jealously guards its power and budgets, slowly adding to them over time. Recent U.S. public policy history offers a challenge to this interpretation. Since the 1970s, the government has been shedding capacity. Government increasingly has relied on a new...