By the end of 2007, thirty states and the District of Colombia had passed some sort of mortgage regulation statute, while the remaining states left the mortgage market unregulated. Were these state mortgage laws effective in restraining risky mortgage lending and mitigating the surge in...

Filing for bankruptcy is the primary legal mechanism by which homeowners in foreclosure can exert control over ownership of their home, yet little is known about the interplay between bankruptcy chapters, mortgage servicers, state foreclosure laws, and home foreclosure auctions. We analyze 4,280...