Mortgage market credit conditions and U.S. Presidential elections

Voters punish incumbent Presidential candidates for contractions in the county-level supply of mortgage credit during market-wide contractions of credit, but do not reward them for expansions in mortgage credit supply in boom times. Our primary focus is the Presidential election of 2008, which followed an unprecedented swing from very generous mortgage underwriting standards to a severe contraction of mortgage credit. Voters responded to the credit crunch by shifting their support away from the Republican Presidential candidate in 2008. That shift was large and particularly pronounced in states that typically vote Republican, and in swing states. Without it McCain would have received half the votes needed in nine crucial swing states to reverse the outcome of the election. We extend our analysis to the Presidential elections from 1996 to 2012 and find that voters only react to contractions, not expansions, of credit, and reactions are similar for Democratic and Republican incumbent parties.     

Foreclosure externalities: New evidence

Policy makers have used externalities to justify government intervention in the foreclosure process. Using a new dataset that covers 15 of the largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. and a novel identification strategy, this paper provides new evidence on the size and source of these externalities. Our results show that a property in distress affects the value of neighboring properties from the time when the borrower becomes seriously delinquent on the mortgage until well after the bank sells the property to a new owner. Properties with seriously delinquent loans within 0.1 miles are found to decrease transaction prices of non-distressed properties by approximately one percent on average. The spillovers are found to dissipate rapidly with distance and completely disappear one year after the bank sells the property to a new homeowner. Importantly, we find that the size of the externality is sensitive to the condition of foreclosed properties, as bank-owned properties in poor condition lower nearby transaction prices by 2.6% on average while those in good condition marginally raise prices. We argue that the measured price spillovers are physical externalities caused by a lack of property maintenance and not pecuniary externalities that reflect local supply or demand shocks.     

Usury laws and private credit in Lima,Peru. Evidence from notarized records

I examine the impact of usury laws on the Peruvian credit market between 1825 and 1852. Using a new data set of nearly 2,000 loans from archival sources, I show that the repeal of colonial anti-usury laws in early 1833 had an important effect on the allocation of credit in Lima. It increased interest rates and promoted access to credit. Furthermore, lenders made loans with greater maturities after the repeal of usury laws.     

论我国按揭贷款市场风控体系的协调性

按揭贷款发展至今已经基本形成了风险控制体系.按揭贷款的风险控制体系包括外部监管与内部风控,具体又可分为三个层面：基础业务制度、表外业务制度与系统性风控制度,两者之间的联系在于信息不对称性,而最终的目标是确定政府与企业在各自市场中的职能.     

保险业在金融危机中的角色：资产证券化视角

本轮金融危机与次贷产品链条及其机理缺陷直接相关。本文对资产证券化中的两种保险机制在金融危机中扮演的角色做了探讨。研究发现：按揭保险业发挥了逆周期的稳定器功能,减缓了系统性风险对住房金融体系冲击。债券保险业较深介入次贷债券及其衍生品的供需链条之中,是导致本轮金融危机中系统性风险爆发的一环。在对二者不同的风险特征做了比较分析之后,结合中国实际,提出完善中国保险业业务结构的若干建议。     

A legal and economic study of the new Consolidated Text of the Land Use Act of 2008 in Spain

The study conducts a legal and economic analysis comparing the new Consolidated Text of the Land Use Act of 2008 (Texto Refundido de la Ley de Suelo) and the Land Law 6/1998, April 13 now repealed. The study examines various articles contained in the new law and the old law. Although the study analyzes every title in both laws, it focuses on Title III regarding valuations for the expropriation of property owners.     

Optimal Mortgage Refinancing with Regime Switches

A model of rational mortgage refinancing is developed where the drift and volatility of interest rate process switch between two regimes. Because of the possibility of a regime shift, the optimal refinancing policy is characterized by the different threshold of interest differential for each regime. Numerical simulation demonstrates that the optimal refinancing threshold in each regime can be smaller or larger than the threshold under single-regime models. Finally, we evaluate the predictions of the model, based on the estimated parameters for a two-regime model to capture the evolution of the mortgage rates in the US. Our model can produce both late and early refinancing, which is consistent with the observed refinancing behavior. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co., Ltd.     

从“次级债风波”看金融创新对风险传导机制的影响路径

从次级债风波的风险本质分析入手，基于Arrow-Lind定理分析了金融创新机制设计的内在逻辑在于风险分担个体增加对风险主体风险态度的影响，并在总结“次级债风波”的传导机理分析的基础上，从金融创新为金融主体风险态度的转变提供前提条件和投资经理人职责设计促使金融创新成为金融市场的信息不对称的“催化剂”两个角度研究金融创新对风险传导机制的影响路径，进而对金融市场如何完善风险控制机制的提出了三点建议。     

美国次级房贷危机及其经济影响

2006年,美国次级抵押贷款的违约率急剧上升,尤其是可变利率抵押贷款的违约率很高,美国次级房贷危机仍在蔓延。对美国次级房贷市场是如何发展起来的、次级房贷危机的起因及其对美国经济的影响进行了阐述,着重从次级房贷危机对金融机构、房屋持有者、建筑商和售房代理的影响三个层面加以论述。认为,次级房贷危机对美国经济的影响有限,美国的创新活动仍然非常活跃,美国经济很快可以渡过调整期,走向繁荣。     

Valuing and hedging fixed rate mortgage commitments

A fixed rate loan commitment that is binding on the lender but not on the loan applicant is equivalent to a put option. This article uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to establish a value for fixed rate loan commitments and to derive the hedge ratio for the lending institution to hedge the interest rate risk associated with the commitments in the FHLMC forward market for mortgages. The effectiveness of the resulting hedge is tested in a simulation, where it is found that the result is a 71% reduction in the variance of the value of the lender's gain or loss associated with the commitment period.