This paper examines the claim that observed racial differences in rejection rates for mortgage applications, which persist after controlling for many relevant factors, are due to racial differences in short-run earnings stability, which has not typically been included in empirical tests. The...

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 encourages federally insured banking institutions to help meet the credit needs of their communities, including those of lower-income areas, in a manner consistent with their safe and sound operation. In responding to the CRA, many banking...

Consolidation among banking institutions has substantially changed the structure of the banking industry. Between 1975 and 1997, the number of commercial banks and savings associations declined more than 40 percent. Over the same broad period, the market for home mortgage lending has also...

The past twenty years have been marked by major structural and regulatory changes in the banking industry. This article explores the relationships between these changes and the distribution of "brick and mortar" banking offices between 1975 and 1995. The analysis explores how population shifts,...

In November 1999, the U.S. Congress asked the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to conduct a comprehensive study of loans made under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. The Board’s study focused on the loans’ delinquency and default rates—their performance—as well as...

This study evaluates the effects of GSE mortgage purchase activity on homeownership and housingconditions among communities that are the focus of the 1992 GSE Act and the HUD affordablehousing goals. To identify GSE effects, the test framework exploits differences in the definition...

Three Federal Reserve Board economists overview their study on a much-questioned but little-researched topic. Commentary on the study is also included with this article.

As a consequence of recent revisions to the regulations that implement the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), new information is now publicly available on the geographic distribution of small loans to businesses and farms and on community development lending. Because small businesses and small...

This paper argues for the importance of separating the bundled good of housing into land and improvements, because locational amenities – which often constitute a significant portion of property value – are typically capitalized into the value of land but not the value of the...