neighborhood definition, based on 13 nearest neighbors, we find that a neighbor in foreclosure increases the hazard of additional …

As the national mortgage crisis has worsened, an increasing number of communities are facing declining housing prices … and high rates of foreclosure. Central to the call for government intervention in this crisis is the claim that … foreclosures not only hurt those who are losing their homes to foreclosure, but also harm neighbors by reducing the value of nearby …

This chapter considers the structure of mortgage finance in the United States and its role in shaping patterns of … on the design features of mortgage contracts that distinguish them from other loans and that have important implications … for issues presented in the rest of the chapter. We then explain how mortgage finance interacts with public policy …