IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedbwp/96-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can studies of application denials and mortgage defaults uncover taste-based discrimination?

Author

Listed:
  • Geoffrey M. B. Tootell

Abstract

Several articles in the popular press have asserted that a simple comparison of average mortgage default rates for white and minority applicants is necessary and sufficient to uncover discrimination in mortgage lending. The fallacy of this assertion has been examined in Peterson (1981), Tootell (1993), and Yinger (1993). These papers show that a failure to account for the financial characteristics of each application or loan makes a simple comparison of average rates meaningless. However, recent empirical work on discrimination in mortgage lending has examined both application denial and mortgage default rates conditional on the strength of each application, not average rates for whites and minorities. This paper assesses the information about discrimination contained in these conditional rates. It is found that the debate over denial versus defaults is misdirected; examining denials is a marginally better method to uncover discrimination. Much of the apparent debate was really over the potential importance of omitted variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Geoffrey M. B. Tootell, 1996. "Can studies of application denials and mortgage defaults uncover taste-based discrimination?," Working Papers 96-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:96-10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/wp/wp1996/wp96_10.htm
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/wp/wp1996/wp96_10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fuhrer, Jeffrey C, 1997. "The (Un)Importance of Forward-Looking Behavior in Price Specifications," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(3), pages 338-350, August.
    2. Munnell, Alicia H., 1991. "Are Pensions Worth the Cost?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 44(3), pages 393-403, September.
    3. Klein, Michael W. & Rosengren, Eric, 1994. "The real exchange rate and foreign direct investment in the United States : Relative wealth vs. relative wage effects," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3-4), pages 373-389, May.
    4. Rosengren, Eric S, 1993. "Defaults of Original Issue High-Yield Convertible Bonds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 345-362, March.
    5. Geoffrey M. B. Tootell, 1992. "Back to the future: monetary policy and the twin deficits," Working Papers 92-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    6. Geoffrey M. B. Tootell, 1993. "Defaults, denials, and discrimination in mortgage lending," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Sep, pages 45-51.
    7. Munnell, Alicia H. & Geoffrey M. B. Tootell & Lynn E. Browne & James McEneaney, 1996. "Mortgage Lending in Boston: Interpreting HMDA Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 25-53, March.
    8. Case, Karl E. & Mayer, Christopher J., 1996. "Housing price dynamics within a metropolitan area," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 387-407, June.
    9. Joe Peek & Eric S. Rosengren, 1996. "Bank Regulatory Agreements and Real Estate Lending," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 24(1), pages 55-73, March.
    10. Lundberg, Shelly J & Startz, Richard, 1983. "Private Discrimination and Social Intervention in Competitive Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(3), pages 340-347, June.
    11. Ferguson, Michael F & Peters, Stephen R, 1995. "What Constitutes Evidence of Discrimination in Lending?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 739-748, June.
    12. Orley Ashenfelter & Timothy Hannan, 1986. "Sex Discrimination and Product Market Competition: The Case of the Banking Industry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 101(1), pages 149-173.
    13. Peek, Joe & Rosengren, Eric, 1995. "Bank regulation and the credit crunch," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 679-692, June.
    14. Eric S. Rosengren & Katerina Simons, 1994. "Failed Bank Resolution and the Collateral Crunch: The Advantages of Adopting Transferable Puts," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 22(1), pages 135-147, March.
    15. Joe Peek & James A. Wilcox, 1991. "The Measurement and Determinants of Single‐Family House Prices," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 19(3), pages 353-382, September.
    16. Richard L. Peterson, 1981. "An Investigation of Sex Discrimination in Commercial Banks' Direct Consumer Lending," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 547-561, Autumn.
    17. Joe Peek & Eric S. Rosengren, 1993. "Bank Real Estate And The New England Capital Crunch," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 246, Boston College Department of Economics.
    18. Joe Peek & Eric Rosengren, 1995. "Banks and the availability of small business loans," Working Papers 95-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    19. Christopher J. Mayer & Katerina V. Simons, 1994. "Reverse Mortgages and the Liquidity of Housing Wealth," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 22(2), pages 235-255, June.
    20. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    21. Alicia H. Munnell & Frederick O. Yohn, 1991. "What is the impact of pensions on saving?," Working Papers 91-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    22. Joe Peek & Eric Rosengren, 1995. "Small business credit availability: how important is size of lender?," Working Papers 95-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    23. Robert B. Avery & Patricia E. Beeson & Mark S. Sniderman, 1992. "Cross-lender variation in home mortgage lending," Working Papers (Old Series) 9219, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Bar & Nishanlang Khonglah, 2022. "Racial differences in access to mortgage lending: comparison across major institutions," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(8), pages 1-26, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Song Han, 2004. "Discrimination in Lending: Theory and Evidence," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 5-46, July.
    2. Song Han, 2001. "On the Economics of Discrimination in Credit Markets," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-02, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Stanley D. Longhofer & Stephen R. Peters, 1998. "Beneath the rhetoric: clarifying the debate on mortgage lending discrimination," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, vol. 34(Q IV), pages 2-13.
    4. Ken Cavalluzzo & Linda Cavalluzzo & John D. Wolken, 1999. "Competition, small business financing, and discrimination: evidence from a new survey," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-25, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. J. Michelle Brock & Ralph De Haas, 2023. "Discriminatory Lending: Evidence from Bankers in the Lab," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 31-68, April.
    6. Song Han, 2011. "Creditor Learning and Discrimination in Lending," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 40(1), pages 1-27, October.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:693-785 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Gilbert, R. Alton & Vaughan, Mark D., 2001. "Do depositors care about enforcement actions?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(2-3), pages 283-311.
    9. Stanley D. Longhofer & Stephen R. Peters, 1998. "Self-selection and discrimination in credit markets," Working Papers (Old Series) 9809, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    10. Demyanyk, Yuliya, 2008. "U.S. banking deregulation and self-employment: A differential impact on those in need," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(1-2), pages 165-178.
    11. Block, Walter & Snow, Nicholas & Stringham, Edward, 2008. "Banks, insurance companies, and discrimination," MPRA Paper 26035, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Peter Nigro & Kevin Jacques, 2000. "Financial Turmoil, Failed Bank Acquisitions, and Bank Business Lending Behavior," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 17(2), pages 149-164, August.
    13. Stephen L. Ross, 2003. "What Is Known about Testing for Discrimination: Lessons Learned by Comparing across Different Markets," Working papers 2003-21, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2003.
    14. Helen F. Ladd, 1998. "Evidence on Discrimination in Mortgage Lending," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 41-62, Spring.
    15. Richard Anderson & James VanderHoff, 1999. "Mortgage Default Rates and Borrower Race," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 18(2), pages 279-290.
    16. Lepage, Louis Pierre, 2021. "Endogenous learning, persistent employer biases, and discrimination," CLEF Working Paper Series 34, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    17. Kate Antonovics & Peter Arcidiacono & Randall Walsh, 2005. "Games and Discrimination: Lessons From The Weakest Link," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 918-947.
    18. Lepage, Louis Pierre, 2020. "Endogenous learning and the persistence of employer biases in the labor market," CLEF Working Paper Series 24, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    19. Byeongchan An & Robert M. Bushman & Anya V. Kleymenova & Rimmy E. Tomy, 2022. "Social Externalities of Bank Enforcement Actions: The Case of Minority Lending," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-036, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. repec:mse:cesdoc:09059r is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Klumpp, Tilman & Su, Xuejuan, 2013. "Second-order statistical discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 108-116.
    22. Manthos D. Delis & Panagiotis Papadopoulos, 2019. "Mortgage Lending Discrimination Across the U.S.: New Methodology and New Evidence," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 341-368, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:96-10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Spozio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbbous.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.