Search Results
Working Paper
Sovereign Default in the US
In the absence of a judicial mechanism to reduce the debt burden of a sovereign member of our Union, the resolution process can be quick but perhaps too indifferent to the health, safety, and welfare of the affected residents. In this paper, I use evidence from the Arkansas state archives to provide a description of the events surrounding the default of the state in 1933. I examine the evolution of the negotiations, the outcomes, and the role of fiscal policy.
Discussion Paper
Systemic banking crises
Systemic banking crises can have devastating effects on the economies of developing or industrialized countries. This Policy Discussion Paper reviews the factors that weaken banking systems and make them more susceptible to crises.
Journal Article
Effective practices in crisis resolution and the case of Sweden
The current financial crisis is a painful reminder that the developed world is not yet immune to these devastating shocks. But while we haven?t learned to prevent them, we have learned some lessons about what is necessary to contain them once they begin and to limit the damage that follows. As policymakers worldwide focus on resolving the current financial crisis, they might look to Sweden as a useful model for effective strategies.
Discussion Paper
On the resolution of financial crises: the Swedish experience
Sweden was one of the Scandinavian countries experiencing a severe financial crisis In the late 1980s and early 1990s. I review the policy choices and external factors that pushed the countrys financial system over the edge and then examine the steps the government took to make its resolution of the crisis one of the most successful in the past 30 years.
Conference Paper
Foreclosures in Ohio: does lender type matter?
Whether mortgages are originated mostly by depository institutions regulated by the Federal agencies or by less-regulated lenders does not seem to affect the foreclosure filing rate in Ohio?s counties. What seems to matter is whether the lenders have a physical presence in the market, in which case, foreclosure rates are lower.
Journal Article
The Employability of Returning Citizens Is Key to Neighborhood Revitalization
One problem low-income communities may face in trying to revitalize is dealing with a high share of residents who are returning home after serving prison terms. Returning citizens often concentrate in low-income areas, and they typically lack the education and skills needed to fi nd jobs. This Commentary reviews these and other barriers to employment, estimates the degree of unemployment, and describes some solutions emerging for this population.
Journal Article
Industrial loan companies
Once Wal-Mart announced its intention to acquire an industrial loan company, a public furor arose that has brought a lot of attention to a type of institution that has existed for quite some time, but was not widely recognized outside of banking circles. What are ILCs and why have they become so controversial lately?
Working Paper
Offer-price discount of bank seasoned equity offers: do voluntary and involuntary offers convey different information?
Seasoned equity offers made by undercapitalized banks (labeled involuntary offers) could be different from other seasoned equity offers because the issuer is presumably under regulatory duress to make up the shortfall in required capital. For this reason, involuntary offers may exhibit limited managerial opportunism. When a firm issues seasoned equity, investment bankers gather information about the issuer in the period between the registration of the offer and its issue date. The information gathered during the book-building process gets reflected in the offer price discount on the issue ...
Working Paper
Homeownership for the long run: an analysis of homeowner subsidies
This paper examines the impact of interest-rate and down-payment subsidies on default rates and losses given default, and finds that down-payment subsidies create successful homeowners at a lower cost than interest-rate subsidies.
Working Paper
Bank branch presence and access to credit in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods
Banks specialize in lending to informationally opaque borrowers by collecting soft information about them. Some researchers claim that this process requires a physical presence in the market to lower information collection costs. The author provides evidence in support of this argument in the mortgage market for low-income borrowers. Mortgage originations increase and interest spreads decline when there is a bank branch located in a low-to-moderate income neighborhood.