We document changes in borrowers' sensitivity to negative equity and show heightened borrower default propensity as a fundamental driver of crisis period mortgage defaults. Estimates of a time-varying coefficient competing risk hazard model reveal a marked run-up in the default option beta from...

This research employs data from a natural experiment to assess the effects of behavioral heuristics on housing choice and public program management. The analysis focuses on programs designed to privatize public housing in Israel. The government programs provided tenants with a call (real) option...

We use Google search query data to develop a broad-based and real-time index of mortgage default risk. Unlike established indicators, our Mortgage Default Risk Index (MDRI) directly reflects households' concerns regarding their risk of mortgage default. The MDRI predicts housing returns,...

This study applies unique data from the 1990s period of economic liberalization in China to evaluate the effects of human capital spillovers on urbanization and regional agglomeration of human capital. We examine these effects via a utility maximizing directional migration model, which accounts...

We provide new evidence of cyclical variation in mortgage default option exercise. For a given level of negative equity, borrower propensity to default rose markedly during the financial crisis and in hard-hit metropolitan areas. Analysis of time-series and panel data indicates the importance of...

Appropriately constructed measures of the quality of life and the quality of the business environment should be important determinants of the growth and composition of population across urban areas. This paper examines that question by extending theoretical measures of household quality of life...

In the wake of recent pronounced cycles in housing, substantial media and professional debate have focused on house price determination, and in particular, optimal seller pricing strategies. In this paper, we adopt a multistage search model, in which the home seller's reservation price is...

We measure the causal impact of reductions in benchmark interest rates on the renegotiation and performance of distressed loans, using 2000s subprime adjustable-rate mortgages as a laboratory. Subprime borrowers treated with larger benchmark Libor rate declines benefited from increased...

We investigate the impact of 2020 COVID-19 rental eviction moratoria on household well-being. Analysis of new panel data indicates that eviction moratoria reduced evictions and resulted in redirection of scarce household financial resources to immediate consumption needs, notably including food...