This paper investigates the boom and bust in U.S. homeownership rates over the 2000-2010 period. Using individual-level census data, we first estimate 204 homeownership regressions stratified by household age (21, 22,…, 89) and survey year (2000, 2005, and 2009). Shift-share methods confirm...

Asset diversification has long been fundamental to investment risk mitigation. We compute new long-term country-specific indices of diversification potential for equity, sovereign debt, and real estate. Findings for the 1986-2021 study period indicate markedly declining or persistently dampened...

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...

We demonstrate that asymmetric information between sellers (loan originators) and purchasers (investors and securities issuers) of commercial mortgages gives rise to a standard “lemons problem”, whereby portfolio lenders use private information to liquidate lower quality loans in CMBS...

Although most studies argue that expansive secondary markets for loan sales tend to enhance opportunities to manage risk, lower loan rates, and improve access to credit, other studies point to situations in which locally based credit providers remain important (e.g. relationship lending in the...

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 examine the effect of urban agglomeration on access to mortgage credit using HMDA data from 1994 to 2008. Previous studies suggest that agglomeration should increase access to specialized workers and information, both of which should enhance liquidity in mortgage lending. Findings indicate...