Search Results
Journal Article
Could restrictions on payday lending hurt consumers?
The payday loan, or more generally, the deferred deposit loan, is among the most contentious forms of credit. It typically signifies a small-dollar, short-term, unsecured loan to a high-risk borrower, often resulting in an effective annual percentage rate of 390 percent a rate well in excess of usury limits set by many states. Consumer advocates argue that payday loans take advantage of vulnerable, uninformed borrowers and often create ?debt spirals.? Debt spirals arise from repeated payday borrowing, using new loans to pay off old ones, and often paying many times the original loan amount in ...
Journal Article
Rising foreclosures in the United States: a perfect storm
Residential foreclosures in the United States have been rising very rapidly since 2006. In the second quarter of 2007, the share of outstanding mortgages in some stage of foreclosure stood at 1.4 percent, near historic highs and up from less than 1 percent a year earlier. The number of mortgages entering the foreclosure process reached an all-time high in mid-2007, suggesting that the foreclosure surge is likely to get worse before it gets better. ; The foreclosure surge was created by a perfect storm of events. First, in recent years the share of subprime mortgage originations increased ...
Working Paper
Student Loan Relief Programs: Implications for Borrowers and the Federal Government
As college costs increase and more students borrow to fund their education, debt load and delinquency rates have become significant problems. Student loan obligations are challenging to manage for new graduates with lower earnings and for borrowers in financial hardship. This paper discusses the various federal student loan repayment relief programs that are available and their borrower and fiscal impacts. The implications for borrowers' costs and the federal budget vary significantly by loan amount, income level, and relief program.
Working Paper
Student loan relief programs: implications for borrowers and the federal government
As college costs increase and more students fund their education through borrowing, debt load and delinquency rates have become significant problems on a number of levels. Student loan obligations are challenging to manage for new graduates with lower earnings and borrowers in financial hardship. This paper discusses the federal student loan repayment relief programs that are available and estimates their borrower and fiscal impacts. The implications of relief plans on borrowers? costs and the federal budget vary for different loan amounts, income levels, and relief program. {{p}} It is ...
Journal Article
Characteristics of high foreclosure neighborhoods in the Tenth District
The foreclosure crisis that began in earnest in 2006 continues to shrink the once valuable assets of homeowners, communities, and investors. In the last three years, more than three million households have lost their homes, and as many as 5 million more could lose their homes in the next three years. ; A striking feature of the crisis is the variation in its severity across both time and space. Initially, the foreclosure crisis hit low-income neighborhoods disproportionately. Foreclosures remain concentrated in these neighborhoods. But in recent months, the foreclosure epidemic has spread ...
Working Paper
Economic effects of apportionment formula changes : results from a panel of corporate income tax returns
To date empirical studies of the economic effects of changes in state corporate income tax apportionment policies have used only highly aggregated, state-level data. This study uses data at the individual firm level, which is provided by a population of corporate income tax returns from the State of Georgia over the period 1992 2002, to evaluate the economic development and revenue aspects of increasing the sales factor weight (and uniformly lowering the weights on payroll and property) in state corporate income tax apportionment formulas. Looking at the firm level, we find elasticities ...
Journal Article
A look at bankruptcy in the Tenth District and beyond
Journal Article
Why Aren’t More People Working in Low- and Moderate-Income Areas?
Although the U.S. labor market has seen strong growth in recent years, labor market conditions have been weaker in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. In particular, residents in LMI communities are much less likely to work than residents in higher-income (non-LMI) communities. As of 2017, 35 percent of residents in LMI communities age 18–64 were not working compared with 24.9 percent in non-LMI communities.In this article, I use a formal text analysis of a unique set of survey comments to examine prominent obstacles to working, and compare the prevalence of these obstacles, or ...
Journal Article
Structural and Cyclical Trends in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has increased sharply over the past 20 years. Average monthly participation grew from 17.3 million people in 2001 to a peak of 47.6 million people in 2013. Although participation declined somewhat as the economy recovered from the Great Recession, SNAP participation remains well above its pre-recession level. {{p}} Kelly D. Edmiston investigates the forces driving long-term patterns in SNAP participation as well as its cyclical variation. He finds that three structural factors?legislative and programmatic changes, poverty, ...
Journal Article
Attracting the power cohort to the Tenth District
A long debated issue in regional economics is whether ?people follow jobs? or ?jobs follow people.? That is, do people move to where jobs are available, or do employers locate their facilities where potential employees reside? If people follow jobs, an appropriate economic development policy would be to concentrate on luring employers, especially large employers. This view reflects many traditional state and local economic development policies. If, on the other hand, jobs follow people, a better policy would be to focus on luring skilled people by creating an environment that is an attractive ...