Electronic payment instruments have the potential to spur the transparency of business transactions and thereby reduce information frictions. We design a field experiment to understand whether e-payments facilitate the financial inclusion of SMEs in developing world and to study adoption...

Real estate markets are subject to dynamic, ever-changing influences from location, amenities and neighborhoods; regulation, zoning and population changes; but also - macroeconomic variables, such as interest rates, inflation and economic cycles. The decision to buy or rent a durable,...

Long-term fixed-rate mortgage contracts protect households against interest rate risk, yet most countries have relatively short interest rate fixation lengths. Using administrative data from the UK, the paper finds that the choice of fixation length tracks the life-cycle decline of credit risk...

We analyze Fannie Mae's experience with the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage product. From 1993-2010, Fannie Mae acquired 492,465 of these loans, representing 75% of the total market. During this period, prior to recent program changes, credit screening was not an element in the underwriting...

The role, informative or persuasive, of brand names in driving purchasing decisions is very much under debate. We exploit the rebranding of a mortgage lender to analyse households’ choice behaviour in response to brand popularity. Loan-level data on new mortgages suggest that (1) brand...

Real estate markets are subject to dynamic, ever-changing influences from location, amenities and neighborhoods; regulation, zoning and population changes; but also - macroeconomic variables, such as interest rates, inflation and economic cycles. The decision to buy or rent a durable,...

We highlight the role of financial constraints in contributing to persistent disparities in wealth and access to geographic opportunities across demographic groups. We document a racial leverage gap—Black borrowers have substantially higher LTV ratios at mortgage origination, reflecting...

We argue that voters' political support for the ruling party shapes the transmission of fiscal policy measures that require households' action, especially when political polarization is high. We find that the take-up rates of a large-scale Indian loan-guarantee program (Mudra loans) are higher...

Using a quantitative life cycle model, we study the impact of access to fractional homeownership on individuals' optimal consumption, savings, and housing decisions. Fractional homeownership means that two parties - an individual and an institutional investor - share full ownership of a...

Long-term fixed-rate mortgage contracts protect households against interest rate risk, yet most countries have relatively short interest rate fixation lengths. Using administrative data from the UK, the paper finds that the choice of fixation length tracks the life-cycle decline of credit risk...