We evaluate the effects of the lending institution and soft information on mortgage loan performance for low-income homebuyers. We find that even after controlling for bank selection, those who receive a loan from a local bank are significantly less likely to become delinquent or default than...

We evaluate the effects of the lending institution and soft information on mortgage loan performance for low income homebuyers. We find that even after controlling for the propensity of a borrower to get a loan from a local bank based on observable characteristics, those who receive a loan from...

The substantial costs of foreclosures to individuals and society motivated nearly $40 billion in government subsidies to homeowners during the Great Recession. Most of these subsidies were in the form of permanent loan modifications with mixed evidence of effectiveness. This paper estimates the...

A great deal of public service motivation (PSM) research has focused on understanding different types of PSM to describe public sector employees, including Samaritans, communitarians, patriots, and humanitarians. This research investigates different types of PSM for private sector individuals...

This paper examines the usage of reverse mortgages among mortgage borrowers, as well as rejected applicants for new mortgage credit who are age 62+. We find that 17-27 percent of actual and rejected borrowers would have qualified for a HECM reverse mortgage, or nine to 14 times the size of the...

The pragmatic field experiment is a flexible methodology for assessing public policies and programs. This study illustrates the use of the pragmatic approach with a novel program, LIFT-UP, where municipalities offered financial counseling to public water utility customers who were behind on...

Program participation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the success of housing policies such as mortgage assistance for distressed homeowners. Low rates of take-up of available assistance among eligible homeowners have hampered the potential success of programs such as the U.S....