Regional Redistribution through the US Mortgage Market

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hurst, Erik; Keys, Benjamin J.; Seru, Amit; Vavra, Joseph
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20151052
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2982-3028
• 关键词: Consumption insurance; UNITED-STATES; RISK

摘要

Regional shocks are an important feature of the US economy. Households' ability to self-insure against these shocks depends on how they affect local interest rates. In the United States, most borrowing occurs through the mortgage market and is influenced by the presence of government-sponsored enterprises (GSE). We establish that despite large regional variation in predictable default risk, GSE mortgage rates for otherwise identical loans do not vary spatially. In contrast, the private market does set interest rates which vary with local risk. We use a spatial model of collateralized borrowing to show that the national interest rate policy substantially affects welfare by redistributing resources across regions.