This paper links the current sub-prime mortgage crisis to a decline in lending standards associated with the rapid expansion of this market. We show that lending standards declined more in areas that experienced larger credit booms and house price increases. We also find that the underlying...

Credit booms are a focal point for policymakers and scholars of financial crises. Yet our understanding of how the real sector behaves during booms, and why some booms may go bad, is limited. Despite a large and growing body of literature, most of the work has focused on aggregate economic...

Using exogenous variation in exposure to hurricanes, this article explores how differently diversified US banks lend during the protracted recovery from a major downturn. Compared to diversified banks, local banks (i) originate a higher share of new mortgage and small business loans in affected...

Using exogenous variation in exposure to hurricanes, this article explores how differently diversified US banks lend during the protracted recovery from a major downturn. Compared to diversified banks, local banks:(i) originate a higher share of new mortgage and small business loans in affected...