Search Results
Journal Article
Measuring pricing bias in mortgages
Detecting and measuring discrimination in the pricing of mortgage loans present unique challenges for bank regulators. This Commentary outlines how loans are priced in the mortgage market and the difficulties involved in comparing the prices charged to different borrowers.
Conference Paper
The importance of bank seniority for relationship lending
Working Paper
Absolute priority rule violations, credit rationing, and efficiency
A demonstration that violations of the absolute priority rule exacerbate credit rationing problems by reducing the payment lenders receive in default states.
Journal Article
Mortgage brokers and fair lending
Mortgage brokers play an important role in the housing finance market, but they also present unique challenges to regulators attempting to enforce fair lending laws. Should lenders be held responsible for the pricing decisions of brokers from whom they receive loan applications, or should fair lending laws instead be applied directly to the brokers themselves?
Journal Article
Rooting out discrimination in home mortgage lending
An argument that racial discrimination in the home mortgage market arises not only from bigotry, but from statistical discrimination (wherein race is correlated with some hard-to-measure determinants of creditworthiness) and from a lack of cultural affinity between lenders and minorities. The author argues that each of these causes may require a different remedy.
Working Paper
The role of warrants in corporate reorganizations
An argument that informational asymmetries explain why the original shareholders of some firms emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings with stock in the reorganized company, while others receive warrants. By proposing a reorganization plan in which they receive warrants, the original stockholders of a firm with good future prospects can signal their superior information to the creditors in a way that firms with poor prospects will not wish to mimic.
Journal Article
Absolute priority rule violations in bankruptcy
An examination of the impact of APR violations, demonstrating that the efficiency of such violations depends on the specific contracting problem with which a firm and its creditors are faced, and that as a result, an optimal bankruptcy institution should allow contract participants to decide ex ante whether such violations will occur.
Working Paper
Anatomy of a fair-lending exam: the uses and limitations of statistics
In this paper, we consider the role of statistical analysis in fair lending compliance examinations. We present a case study of an actual examination of a large mortgage lender, demonstrating how statistical techniques can be a valuable tool focusing examiner efforts to either uncover illegal discrimination or exonerate an institution so accused. Importantly, our case also highlights the limitations of such statistical techniques. The study suggests that statistical analysis combined with comparative file review offers a balanced and thorough approach to enforcement of fair lending laws.
Working Paper
Anatomy of a fair-lending exam: the uses and limitations of statistics
In this paper, we consider the role of statistical analysis in fair-lending compliance examinations. We present a case study of an actual fair-lending examination of a large mortgage lender, demonstrating how statistical techniques can be a valuable tool in focusing examiner efforts to either uncover illegal discrimination or exonerate an institution so accused.