This paper provides a survey of federal housing programs, establishing the primary importance of indirect and off-budget activities in promoting housing and providing subsidies to housing consumers. We consider the role of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) and the...

It is now widely recognized that the interest rate risks embedded in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (F&F) retained mortgage portfolios create a serious threat to the US financial system. This paper evaluates proposals to control the interest rate risk embedded in these portfolios. The analysis...

This paper provides a framework for analyzing the effects of symmetric and asymmetric changes in information about risk on equilibrium real interest rate spreads across countries. Following the literature on parameter uncertainty, improvements in information are modeled as reductions in...

This paper examines the causes of the failure of the private market for catastrophe insurance and examines some public solutions. Although the standard explanations of insurance market failure (adverse selection and moral hazard, large imprecise risks) are present, we argue that the primary...

This commentary focuses on two specific issues. The first asks, What are the market failures that actually create the need for the public regulation of bank safety and soundness? The second issue concerns the safety and soundness issues created by the two mortgage government-sponsored...