We provide an analytic valuation framework to value second mortgages and first lien mortgages when owners can take out a second lien. We then use the framework to value mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and, in particular, quantify the greater risk associated with MBS backed by first liens that...

We propose that financial institutions can act as asset insulators, holding assets for the long run to protect their valuations from consequences of exposure to financial markets. We illustrate the empirical relevance of this theory for the balance sheet behavior of a large class of...

We document what fraction of the housing stock in US cities is affordable to different family types. Rather than looking at what fraction of their income people actually pay in rent in each city, we look at the extent to which the housing stock is affordable using discrete housing expenditure...

We study the impact of widespread adoption of work-from-home (WFH) technology using an equilibrium model where people choose where to live, how to allocate their time between working at home and at the office, and how much space to use in production. A key parameter is the elasticity of...

This paper evaluates the pros and cons of including private equity fund investments in defined contribution plans. Potential benefits include higher returns and improved diversification as well as a relatively safe method for accessing investments previously only available to institutions and...

What happens on Wall Street matters for Main Street. We use establishment-level data on the employment composition of US public firms to show that the predictive power of aggregate stock returns for aggregate employment comes despite the industrial composition of publicly traded firms differing...

Young borrowers are the least experienced financially and, conventionally, thought to be most prone to financial problems. Our results challenge the notion that young borrowers are bad credit card users. We first show that the CARD Act of 2009 succeeded in its aim of reducing young borrowers'...

This paper asks why monetary contractions have strong effects on the housing market. The paper presents a model with staggered housing adjustment in which monetary policy has real effects in the absence of any rigidity in producer pricing or wages. Limited participation in financial markets...

We analyze the relationship between housing and the business cycle in a set of 51 U.S. cities. Most surprisingly, we find that declines in house prices are often not followed by declines in employment. We also find that national permits are a better leading indicator for a city's employment than...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 established a new program called Opportunity Zones (OZs) that created tax advantages for investing in businesses or real estate in a limited number of low-income Census tracts. We use a census of establishment-level data on employment to identify the effect of...