We document changes in borrowers' sensitivity to negative equity and show heightened borrower default propensity as a fundamental driver of crisis period mortgage defaults. Estimates of a time-varying coefficient competing risk hazard model reveal a marked run-up in the default option beta from...

We study the potential model instability problem with respect to mortgage default risk and examine to what extent it helps explain the default shock during the recent crisis. We find that econometric default risk models based on historical data can be unstable over time. Due to temporal shifts...

We study the potential model instability problem with respect to mortgage default risk and examine to what extent it helps explain the default shock during the recent crisis. We find that econometric default risk models based on historical data can be unstable over time. Due to temporal shifts...

The average loss rate for conventional mortgages rose from less than 10% pre-crisis to more than 30% during the crisis, reaching and sustaining greater than 40% post-crisis. Using a novel database that contains the components of mortgage losses, we identify a regime shift in loss severities...

We document the default rates of CMBS loans during the recent financial crisis. The 30 , 60 , and 90 day delinquency rates of conduit CMBS loans have risen sharply since late 2008 and have reached levels that are about 7 times of the 10-year average. Comparing to the previous crisis in the early...

We use a novel approach to calculate individual “financial literacy score” for a large set of California mortgage borrowers and then investigate the relation between financial literacy and mortgage outcomes. We find borrowers with low financial literacy are more likely to accept riskier...

We investigate the impact of Great Recession policies in California that substantially increased lender pecuniary and time costs of foreclosure. We estimate that the California Foreclosure Prevention Laws (CFPLs) prevented 250,000 California foreclosures (a 20% reduction) and created $300...