In this paper we offer direct evidence that financial intermediation does impact underlying asset markets. We develop a specific observable symptom of a banking system that underprices the put option imbedded in non-recourse asset-backed lending. Using a dataset for 19 countries and over 500...

Over half the states and several localities have enacted statutes and ordinances to regulate abuses in the residential mortgage market. The effect of these statutes is a matter of debate. This paper seeks to improve the understanding of this increasingly important issue and pays particular...

We identify two data-related errors in the work of Ouazad and Kahn (OK, RFS 2021). Correcting either of these errors or both entirely reverses the original result, in OK’s code and in our independent implementation. The two corrections we implement are to use the correct FHFA conventional loan...

We investigate the correlation between curb-side tree plantings and housing price movements in Philadelphia from 1998 to 2003, comparing two programs, one by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society that requires block-group effort that focuses on low-income neighbourhoods and the other by the...

Lenders are frequently accused of mispricing the put option imbedded in non-recourse lending (Herring and Wachter, 1999 and 2003). Prior research (Pavlov and Wachter, 2004) shows one lender's incentives to underprice. Here we identify the conditions for a market-wide underpricing equilibrium. We...

This paper presents new evidence on the determinants of the large disparities in home ownership by race in the U.S. Consistent with results first reported by P. Linneman and S. M. Wachter (1989, AREOFA J. 7, No. 4, 389-402), we find no ceteris paribus racial differences in ownership rates among...

This chapter contrasts the process of urbanization in China and in India. It characterizes the differences in outcomes with regard to the provision of urban infrastructure and the development of informality in each country. The role of local autonomy and governance structures help to explain...

Fifty years after the adoption of the 1968 Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in the housing market, homeownership rates have not increased for black or Hispanic households. The current homeownership rate for black households is 42 percent, identical to the 1970 census reported...