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Journal Article
Mortgage lending in Boston: a response to the critics
Three years ago, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston released an examination of racial patterns in mortgage denial rates in the Boston area. The study was motivated by newly available data on mortgage applications, showing that black and Hispanic applicants were two to three times as likely to be turned down for mortgages as white applicants. The study gathered all the variables thought to be missing from the HMDA analysis, such as the applicants' debt burdens and credit histories, to see whether these economic factors explained the racial difference in denial rates. Although the additional ...
Discussion Paper
Greater Springfield employment challenges: findings of employer survey and interviews
This paper presents the findings from in-depth interviews and a survey of employers in the Greater Springfield area regarding (a) employment opportunities for entry-level workers with limited skills and (b) barriers that residents of Springfield's low-income neighborhoods face in accessing these jobs. The survey and interviews indicate that entry-level jobs that do not require college are available in the Springfield area. However, even entry-level jobs require the ability to perform a variety of tasks, and many applicants lack the skills needed to perform these jobs or have work readiness ...
Journal Article
Why do New Englanders work so much?
Because of the softening of the New England economy in the past two years, the availability of labor has become a less pressing issue for New England businesses. However, projections of slower growth in the working-age population in the 1990s, attributable to changes in the age structure, hold out the possibility of tight labor markets and difficulties finding suitable workers in the future. ; This article focuses on the fraction of the working-age population that chooses to work, called the participation rate, and its responsiveness to economic conditions. New England has had persistently ...
Conference Paper
How the commercial real estate boom undid the banks
Journal Article
Does Japan offer any lessons for the United States?
In the late 1990s, some observers began to make comparisons between the rapid rise in stock prices then taking place in the United States and the escalation in asset values in Japan in the late 1980s. Did Japan's experience, which was followed by more than a decade of stagnation, contain any cautionary lessons for the United States? With the recent slowing in the pace of U.S. economic activity, the question has been asked more earnestly; and while the prevailing view remains that the United States is not Japan, the denials have been less forceful. ; This article compares Japan's experience ...
Journal Article
Too much of a good thing? Higher wages in New England
Discussion Paper
Jobs in Springfield, Massachusetts: understanding and remedying the causes of low resident employment rates
As part of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's commitment to supporting efforts to revitalize the economy of Springfield, Massachusetts, this paper explores the causes of and potential remedies for the city's low resident employment rates. When compared to the state as a whole and to other midsize New England cities, the share of employed city residents is low, particularly for residents of downtown Springfield and its nearby neighborhoods. By analyzing the availability of jobs across Springfield's various neighborhoods and in nearby towns and cities, this paper's goal is to learn why so few ...
Journal Article
Shifting regional fortunes: the wheel turns
Journal Article
Should states restrict takeovers?