In recessions, depository institutions accounted for most declines in mortgage flows. Recently, they partially offset their withdrawals from primary markets with accumulations of mortgage-backed securities. Increases in direct flows into agency and private pools also countered the declining...

One of the weaknesses of current bank efficiency models is a disagreement as to the role of deposits in the bank production process. Some models view deposits as an input, while others view them as an output. Such disparity of approaches results in inconsistent efficiency estimates. In this...