Our study focuses on whether mortgage prices for Hispanic borrowers in areas of limited English fluency depend on the broker's ethnicity. While we find that Hispanic borrowers in areas where the majority of Hispanics are not fluent in English pay higher prices overall, mortgage prices are lower...

This paper exploits the dramatic increase in house prices in early 2000 and the panel nature of the data to investigate the effect of home equity on charitable giving. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 2001 to 2007, we find that a 10% increase in home equity increases a household’s...

While nearly half of all school districts have adopted middle schools, there is little quantitative evidence of the efficacy of this educational structure. We estimate the impact of moving from a junior high school system, where students stay in elementary school longer, to a middle school...

The period 2004?005 showed a significant increase in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rate spread reporting. Following the Oaxaca (1973), Blinder (1973), and Fairlie (2005) decomposition techniques, this study identifies the fraction of the increase due to the flattening of the yield curve....

This study examines the effect of gender on the choice of adjustable- versus fixed-rate mortgages among mortgage applicants in the United States. While adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are initially cheaper, they expose the borrower to interest rate risk. Using linear probability models applied...