Search Results
Working Paper
A Tale of Two Bailouts: Effects of TARP and PPP on Subprime Consumer Debt
High levels of subprime consumer debt can create social problems. We test the effects of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) bailouts during the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 crisis, respectively, on this debt. We use over 11 million credit bureau observations of individual consumer debt combined with banking, bailout, and local market data. We find that subprime consumers with more TARP institutions in their markets had significantly increased debt burdens following these bailouts. In contrast, PPP bailouts were associated with reduced ...
Discussion Paper
How Severe Was the Credit Cycle in the New York-Northern New Jersey Region?
U.S. households accumulated record-high levels of debt in the 2000s, and then began a process of deleveraging following the Great Recession and financial crisis. In some parts of the country, the rise and fall in household indebtedness was quite a bit sharper than in others. In this post, we highlight some of our research examining the magnitude of the recent credit cycle, and focus on how significant it?s been in New York State and northern New Jersey. Compared with the nation as a whole, we find that the region experienced a relatively mild credit cycle, although pockets of elevated ...
Working Paper
Big Data versus a Survey
Economists are shifting attention and resources from work on survey data to work on ?big data.? This analysis is an empirical exploration of the trade-offs this transition requires. Parallel models are estimated using the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax and the Survey of Consumer Finances. After adjustments to account for different variable definitions and sampled populations, it is possible to arrive at similar models of total household debt. However, the estimates are sensitive to the adjustments. Little similarity is observed in parallel models of nonmortgage ...