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Do Large-Scale Refinancing Programs Reduce Mortgage Defaults? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design: Working Paper 2015-06

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  • Gabriel Ehrlich
  • Jeffrey Perry

Abstract

In 2012, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reduced fees to refinance FHA-insured mortgages obtained before---but not after---a retroactive deadline. We use a natural experiment to study how reduced mortgage payments affect default rates. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that reducing payment size by 1 percent lowers conditional default rates by 2.75 percent. Evidence suggests that those effects are larger for borrowers with negative equity and lower credit scores. We estimate that the policy will prevent more than 35,000 defaults of FHA-insured

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Ehrlich & Jeffrey Perry, 2015. "Do Large-Scale Refinancing Programs Reduce Mortgage Defaults? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design: Working Paper 2015-06," Working Papers 50871, Congressional Budget Office.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbo:wpaper:50871
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Francesca Castelli & Damien Moore & Gabriel Ehrlich & Jeffrey Perry, 2014. "Modeling the Budgetary Costs of FHA's Single Family Mortgage Insurance: Working Paper 2014-05," Working Papers 45711, Congressional Budget Office.
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    5. Elliot Anenberg & Edward Kung, 2014. "Estimates of the Size and Source of Price Declines Due to Nearby Foreclosures," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2527-2551, August.
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    9. Andrew Gelman & Guido Imbens, 2019. "Why High-Order Polynomials Should Not Be Used in Regression Discontinuity Designs," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 447-456, July.
    10. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    11. Hahn, Jinyong & Todd, Petra & Van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2001. "Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 201-209, January.
    12. Deborah Lucas & Damien Moore & Mitchell Remy, 2011. "An Evaluation of Large-Scale Mortgage Refinancing Programs: Working Paper 2011-04," Working Papers 42752, Congressional Budget Office.
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    Cited by:

    1. Therese C. Scharlemann & Stephen H. Shore, 2022. "The effect of changing mortgage payments on default and prepayment: Evidence from HAMP resets," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1231-1256, September.
    2. Anthony A. Defusco & John Mondragon, 2020. "No Job, No Money, No Refi: Frictions to Refinancing in a Recession," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(5), pages 2327-2376, October.
    3. Joshua Abel & Andreas Fuster, 2021. "How Do Mortgage Refinances Affect Debt, Default, and Spending? Evidence from HARP," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 254-291, April.
    4. Gene Amromin & Jane Dokko & Karen E. Dynan, 2020. "Helping Homeowners During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the Great Recession," Chicago Fed Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue 443, pages 1-9, June.
    5. Kadiri Karamon & Douglas McManus & Jun Zhu, 2017. "Refinance and Mortgage Default: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of HARP’s Impact on Default Rates," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 457-475, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

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