An argument that the legislation aimed at making private mortgage insurance more fair and affordable for homeowners could actually hurt the very borrowers it is intended to help by restricting the availability of mortgage loans and making them more costly.

There is a paradox in bank mergers. On average, bank mergers do not create value, yet they continue to occur. Using cross-sectional analysis to examine 54 bank mergers announced between 1991 and 1995, I test several facets of focus and diversification. Upon announcement, the market rewards the...

Models used to guide policy, as well as some empirical studies, suggest that the effect of housing wealth on consumption is large and greater than the wealth effect on consumption from stock holdings. Recent theoretical work, in contrast, argues that changes in housing wealth are offset by...