We discuss the main Theories of Harm in EU merger control and their evolution since the 1990s. We present stylised facts and trends using data extracted from EU merger decisions by natural language processing tools. EU merger policy has adapted over time, both in terms of legislation and...

We discuss the main Theories of Harm in EU merger control and their evolution since the 1990s. We present stylised facts and trends using data extracted from EU merger decisions by natural language processing tools. EU merger policy has adapted over time, both in terms of legislation and...

We examine foreclosure discounts and their subsequent impact on investor returns in Berlin's housing market from 1984 to 2022. Utilizing hedonic regression models and matching techniques on a data set of housing transactions, we determine that foreclosure discounts, ranging from 20% to 50%, are...

We demonstrate how the incentives of firms that partially own their suppliers or customers to foreclose rivals depend on how the partial owner can extract profits from the target. Compared to a fully vertically integrated firm, a partial owner may obtain only a share of the target's profit but...

We discuss the main Theories of Harm in EU merger control and their evolution since the 1990s. We present stylised facts and trends using data extracted from EU merger decisions by natural language processing tools. EU merger policy has adapted over time, both in terms of legislation and...

We discuss the main Theories of Harm in EU merger control and their evolution since the 1990s. We present stylised facts and trends using data extracted from EU merger decisions by natural language processing tools. EU merger policy has adapted over time, both in terms of legislation and...

Did the United States government distort efficient returns of the housing finance sector in response to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic? This paper employs a Fama-French five-factor capital asset pricing model event study hybrid approach to investigate if the Coronavirus Aid, Relief,...

Large platforms are often accused of refusing to serve (or discriminating against) competing sellers in adjacent product markets. Antitrust law labels such activity a unilateral “refusal to deal” (RTD) and evaluates it under a predation-like framework shaped by the two leading RTD cases,...

In this paper we ask whether foreclosures are contagious: does a completed foreclosure cause neighboring foreclosure filings? We estimate this relationship using administrative data on home foreclosures and sales in Cook County, IL, and instrument a completed foreclosure using random assignment...

Homeowners face risk due to variation in annual property tax liabilities which may result in financial distress and eventual mortgage foreclosure. We show that an unintended consequence of a common property tax feature, assessment limitations, exposes households to more systematic risk despite...

I study frictions that prevent banks and loan servicers from granting debt relief to struggling borrowers in the U.S. residential mortgage market. I explore how asymmetric information, transaction costs and aid generosity associated with granting debt relief affect mortgage foreclosure outcomes....

This paper tests the effectiveness of vacant property registration ordinances (VPROs) in reducing negative externalities from foreclosures. VPROs were widely adopted by local governments across the United States during the foreclosure crisis and facilitated the monitoring and enforcement of...

We study the incentives of firms that hold partial vertical ownership to foreclose rivals. Compared to a full vertical merger, with partial ownership, a firm may obtain only part of the target's profit but may nevertheless be able to influence the target's strategy significantly. The target may...

We investigate the long-term effects of foreclosure-induced relocations on adolescents and their subsequent use of credit. We ask whether individuals who experience a foreclosure-induced move between the ages of 10 and 17 are more likely to exhibit signs of credit scarring later in life. To...

Foreclosures have large societal costs, and in many cases are more costly to mortgage- holders than the borrower resuming payments. In 2014, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implemented regulations for mortgage servicers aimed at addressing servicer conduct that may have led...

How costly is foreclosure? Estimates of the social cost of foreclosure typically focus on financial costs. Using random judge assignment instrumental variable (IV) and propensity score matching (PSM) approaches in Cook County, Illinois, we find evidence of significant non-pecuniary costs of...

We study the incentives of firms that hold partial vertical ownership to foreclose rivals. Compared to a full vertical merger, with partial ownership, a firm may obtain only part of the target's profit but may nevertheless be able to influence the target's strategy significantly. The target may...

This paper investigates how technology affects mortgage foreclosure markets. Exploiting the staggered adoption of electronic bidding across adjoined Florida’s counties, I show that foreclosure auction success increases by 27%, and price discounts shrink by 42%. The effects are the largest in...

There was an unprecedented wave of foreclosures and evictions in Spain after the 2008 global financial crisis. The subsequent Great Recession had strong economic, social and environmental consequences. This paper explores the frequency of permanent shocks in foreclosure quarterly rates (defined...

This paper studies how the sale of delinquent debt affects foreclosure and renegotiation. In order to disentangle the effect of loan sale from that of loan quality, I exploit an unanticipated suspension in loan buyouts for GNMA securitized mortgages experiencing a rolling delinquency. I find...

We conduct comprehensive analyses on whether and how the judicial foreclosure procedure helps subprime mortgage borrowers to reinstate their delinquent loans outside foreclosure liquidation. Even though the transition rates of various exit types are all higher in non-judicial states, we argue...

Home appraisals are produced for millions of residential mortgage transactions each year, but appraised values are rarely below the purchase contract price: Some 30% of appraisals in our sample are exactly at the home price (with less than 10% of them below it). We lay out a basic theoretical...

A mortgage borrower has several options once a foreclosure proceedings is initiated, mainly default and prepayment. Using a sample of FHA mortgage loans, we develop a dependent competing risks framework to examine the determinants of time to default and time to prepayment once the foreclosure...

We study the determinants of common European merger policy over its first 25 years, from 1990 to 2014. Using a novel dataset at the level of the relevant antitrust markets and containing all relevant merger cases notified to the European Commission, we evaluate how consistently arguments related...

We review the Chicago school's single monopoly profit theory whereby an upstream monopolist cannot increase its profits through vertical integration as it has sufficient market power anyways. In our model the dominant supplier has full bargaining power and uses observable two-part tariffs. We...

Foreclosure is a prominent concept in the antitrust laws and across economics. In the world of exclusionary conduct—foreclosure is the concept. But, despite its prominence in antitrust law and economics—including taking center stage in the Department of Justice’s complaint against...

Millions of homeowners are having difficulty paying their mortgage because of the COVID-19 emergency, and those suffering from a sustained income loss will be unable to afford their original monthly payments. Research based on post-Great Recession defaults provide compelling evidence that a...

This paper studies the impact of foreclosures on house prices in Italy using a large dataset of listings. We estimate that the foreclosure discount is considerable, and this would suggest a high degree of market segmentation and limited spillovers from foreclosures to the market for...

We build a business cycle model characterized by endogenous firms dynamics, where banks may prefer debt renegotiation, i.e. non-performing exposures, to outright borrowers default. We find that debt renegotiations only do not have adverse effects in the event of financial crisis episodes, but a...

Communities across the nation continue to struggle with the long-term effects of the housing market crash and resulting foreclosure crisis of 2006-2007. In Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago and several surrounding suburbs, foreclosure and resulting vacant buildings continue to pose...