IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cdh/commen/318.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Governments Should Do in Mortgage Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Finn Poschmann

    (C.D. Howe Institute)

Abstract

The federal government’s role in mortgage markets is pervasive and should be scaled back, while encouraging more competition in the mortgage insurance business, according to this study. The author notes that the mortgage insurance book of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, CMHC, which is a Crown agency, now backstops mortgage lending equivalent to more than 30 percent of gross domestic product. While the net exposure is less than this, the arrangement subjects Canadian taxpayers to large, ill-defined risks. The author suggests several steps to manage these risks better.

Suggested Citation

  • Finn Poschmann, 2011. "What Governments Should Do in Mortgage Markets," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 318, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdh:commen:318
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cdhowe.org/what-governments-should-do-in-mortgage-markets-4/4389
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pierre Siklos & Andrew Spence, 2010. "Faceoff: Should the Bank of Canada Release its Projections of the Interest Rate Path? – The Cases For and Against," C.D. Howe Institute Backgrounder, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 134, October.
    2. David A. Dodge, 2008. "Central Banking at a Time of Crisis and Beyond: A Practitioner’s Perspective," Benefactors Lecture 2008, C.D. Howe Institute.
    3. Kevin D. Moore & William Robson & Alexandre Laurin, 2010. "Canada’s Looming Retirement Challenge: Will Future Retirees Be Able to Maintain Their Living Standards upon Retirement?," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 317, December.
    4. repec:pri:cepsud:141rosen is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Smith, Constance & Landon, Stuart, 2010. "Government Revenue Volatility in Alberta," Working Papers 2010-10, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    6. Clyde Goodlet, 2010. "Too Big to Fail: A Misguided Policy in Times of Financial Turmoil," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 311, October.
    7. David Longworth, 2010. "Warding Off Financial Market Failure: How to Avoid Squeezed Margins and Bad Haircuts," C.D. Howe Institute Backgrounder, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 135, December.
    8. Avinash Dixit, 1989. "Trade and Insurance with Adverse Selection," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 56(2), pages 235-247.
    9. Stuart Landon & Constance Smith, 2010. "Energy Prices and Alberta Government Revenue Volatility," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 313, November.
    10. Colin Busby & William B.P. Robson, 2010. "Disarmed and Disadvantaged: Canada’s Workers Need More Physical Capital to Confront the Productivity Challenge," e-briefs 107, C.D. Howe Institute.
    11. Philippe Bergevin & David Laidler, 2010. "Putting Money Back into Monetary Policy: A Monetary Anchor for Price and Financial Stability," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 312, October.
    12. Christian Calmes & Raymond Theoret, 2011. "Lifting the Veil: Regulation and Shadow Banking," e-briefs 110, C.D. Howe Institute.
    13. Hyun Song Shin, 2010. "Financial intermediation and the post-crisis financial system," BIS Working Papers 304, Bank for International Settlements.
    14. DiPasquale, Denise & Glaeser, Edward L., 1999. "Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners Better Citizens?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 354-384, March.
    15. William B.P. Robson, 2010. "The Glacier Grinds Closer: How Demographics Will Change Canada’s Fiscal Landscape," e-briefs 106, C.D. Howe Institute.
    16. Kristopher S. Gerardi & Harvey S. Rosen & Paul S. Willen, 2006. "Do households benefit from financial deregulation and innovation?: the case of the mortgage market," Public Policy Discussion Paper 06-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    17. Jotham Peters & Chris Bataille & Nic Rivers & Mark Jaccard, 2010. "Taxing Emissions, Not Income: How to Moderate the Regional Impact of Federal Environment Policy," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 314, November.
    18. Michael Hart, 2010. "A Matter of Trust: Expanding the Preclearance of Commerce between Canada and the United States," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 309, September.
    19. Kristopher Gerardi & Harvey S. Rosen & Paul Willen, 2007. "Do Households Benefit from Financial Deregulation and Innovation? The Case of the Mortgage Market," Working Papers 61, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    20. James R. Thompson, 2007. "Credit Risk Transfer: To Sell Or To Insure," Working Paper 1131, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    21. David C. Allan & Philippe Bergevin, 2010. "The Canadian ABS Market: Where Do We Go From Here?," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 315, November.
    22. Diego Aragon & Andrew Caplin & Sumit Chopra & John V. Leahy & Yann LeCun & Marco Scoffier & Joseph Tracy, 2010. "Reassessing FHA Risk," NBER Working Papers 15802, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Bob Baldwin & Brian FitzGerald, 2010. "Seeking Certainty in Uncertain Times: A Review of Recent Government-Sponsored Studies on the Regulation of Canadian Pension Plans," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 310, September.
    24. John Richards, 2011. "School Dropouts: Who Are They and What Can Be Done?," e-briefs 109, C.D. Howe Institute.
    25. Andrew Green & Michael Trebilcock, 2010. "The Eco-Fee Imbroglio: Lessons from Ontario’s Troubled Experiment in Charging for Waste Management," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 316, December.
    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. Colin Busby & William B.P. Robson, 2011. "A Social Insurance Model for Pharmacare: Ontario's Options for a More Sustainable, Cost-Effective Drug Program," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 326, April.
    2. Angelo Melino, 2011. "Moving Monetary Policy Forward: Why Small Steps - and a Lower Inflation Target - Make Sense for the Bank of Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 319, January.
    3. Steve E. Hrudey, 2011. "Safe Drinking Water Policy for Canada - Turning Hindsight into Foresight," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 323, February.
    4. Alan Walks, 2014. "Canada's Housing Bubble Story: Mortgage Securitization, the State, and the Global Financial Crisis," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 256-284, January.
    5. Christopher Ragan, 2011. "Precision Targeting: The Economics – and Politics – of Improving Canada’s Inflation-Targeting Framework," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 321, February.
    6. James P. Bruce, 2011. "Protecting Groundwater: The Invisible and Vital Resource," C.D. Howe Institute Backgrounder, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 136, February.
    7. David A. Dodge & Richard Dion, 2011. "Chronic Healthcare Spending Disease: A Macro Diagnosis and Prognosis," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 327, April.
    8. Philippe Bergevin & William B.P. Robson, 2011. "The Costs of Inflexible Indexing: Avoiding the Adverse Fiscal Impacts of Lower Inflation," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 322, February.
    9. Bev Dahlby & Ergete Ferede, 2011. "What Does it Cost Society to Raise a Dollar of Tax Revenue? The Marginal Cost of Public Funds," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 324, March.
    10. Paul R. Masson, 2013. "The Dangers of an Extended Period of Low Interest Rates: Why the Bank of Canada Should Start Raising Them Now," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 381, May.
    11. Finn Poschmann & Philippe Bergevin, 2013. "Reining in the Risks: Rethinking the Role of Crown Financial Corporations in Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 372, February.
    12. John Richards, 2011. "Aboriginal Education in Quebec: A Benchmarking Exercise," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 328, April.
    13. Pierre Fortin, 2011. "Staying the Course: Quebec's Fiscal Balance Challenge," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 325, March.
    14. Thorsten V. Koeppl & James C. MacGee, 2017. "Mortgage Insurance Deductibles: An Idea Whose Time Hasn’t Come," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 485, July.
    15. Alexandre Laurin & William B.P. Robson, 2011. "A Faster Track to Fiscal Balance: The 2011 Shadow Budget," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 320, February.

    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. Angelo Melino, 2011. "Moving Monetary Policy Forward: Why Small Steps - and a Lower Inflation Target - Make Sense for the Bank of Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 319, January.
    2. Alexandre Laurin & William B.P. Robson, 2011. "A Faster Track to Fiscal Balance: The 2011 Shadow Budget," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 320, February.
    3. Christopher Ragan, 2011. "Precision Targeting: The Economics – and Politics – of Improving Canada’s Inflation-Targeting Framework," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 321, February.
    4. James P. Bruce, 2011. "Protecting Groundwater: The Invisible and Vital Resource," C.D. Howe Institute Backgrounder, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 136, February.
    5. Philippe Bergevin & William B.P. Robson, 2011. "The Costs of Inflexible Indexing: Avoiding the Adverse Fiscal Impacts of Lower Inflation," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 322, February.
    6. David Longworth, 2010. "Warding Off Financial Market Failure: How to Avoid Squeezed Margins and Bad Haircuts," C.D. Howe Institute Backgrounder, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 135, December.
    7. Kevin D. Moore & William Robson & Alexandre Laurin, 2010. "Canada’s Looming Retirement Challenge: Will Future Retirees Be Able to Maintain Their Living Standards upon Retirement?," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 317, December.
    8. Steve E. Hrudey, 2011. "Safe Drinking Water Policy for Canada - Turning Hindsight into Foresight," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 323, February.
    9. Andrew Green & Michael Trebilcock, 2010. "The Eco-Fee Imbroglio: Lessons from Ontario’s Troubled Experiment in Charging for Waste Management," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 316, December.
    10. Pierre Fortin, 2011. "Staying the Course: Quebec's Fiscal Balance Challenge," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 325, March.
    11. David C. Allan & Philippe Bergevin, 2010. "The Canadian ABS Market: Where Do We Go From Here?," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 315, November.
    12. Bev Dahlby & Ergete Ferede, 2011. "What Does it Cost Society to Raise a Dollar of Tax Revenue? The Marginal Cost of Public Funds," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 324, March.
    13. David A. Dodge & Richard Dion, 2011. "Chronic Healthcare Spending Disease: A Macro Diagnosis and Prognosis," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 327, April.
    14. Stuart Landon & Constance Smith, 2010. "Energy Prices and Alberta Government Revenue Volatility," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 313, November.
    15. Colin Busby & William B.P. Robson, 2011. "A Social Insurance Model for Pharmacare: Ontario's Options for a More Sustainable, Cost-Effective Drug Program," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 326, April.
    16. Philippe Bergevin & David Laidler, 2010. "Putting Money Back into Monetary Policy: A Monetary Anchor for Price and Financial Stability," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 312, October.
    17. Pierre Siklos & Andrew Spence, 2010. "Faceoff: Should the Bank of Canada Release its Projections of the Interest Rate Path? – The Cases For and Against," C.D. Howe Institute Backgrounder, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 134, October.
    18. John Richards, 2011. "Aboriginal Education in Quebec: A Benchmarking Exercise," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 328, April.
    19. Morris M. Kleiner & Richard M. Todd, 2007. "Mortgage Broker Regulations That Matter: Analyzing Earnings, Employment, and Outcomes for Consumers," NBER Working Papers 13684, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Tatom, John, 2007. "The foreclosure crisis: a two-pronged attack on the U.S. economy," MPRA Paper 12499, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Services; Canada; Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC); mortgage insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cdh:commen:318. 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: Kristine Gray (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cdhowca.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.