This chapter considers the structure of mortgage finance in the U.S., and its role in shaping patterns of homeownership … 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, particularly …

Much of the literature on the economics of mortgage markets has studied the FRM-ARM choice made by individual borrowers … of optimal risk-sharing in mortgage contracts. But since only a small literature has studied this question, more research …'s (1986a) model, using it to characterize optimal contracts in the absence of mortgage termination, and then exploring how …