Loan Originations and Defaults in the Mortgage Crisis: Further Evidence

30 Pages Posted: 23 Jun 2015 Last revised: 10 Jul 2015

See all articles by Manuel Adelino

Manuel Adelino

Duke University; Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Nova School of Business and Economics

Antoinette Schoar

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Felipe Severino

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business

Date Written: June 21, 2015

Abstract

This paper addresses two critiques by Mian and Sufi (2015a, 2015b) that were released in response to the results documented in Adelino, Schoar and Severino (2015). We confirm that none of the results in our previous paper are affected by the issues put forward in these critiques; in particular income overstatement does not drive any of our results. Our analysis shows that the origination of purchase mortgages increased across the whole income distribution during the 2002-2006 housing boom, and did not flow disproportionately to low-income borrowers. In addition, middle- and high-income, as well as middle- and high-credit-score borrowers (not the poor), represent a larger fraction of delinquencies in the crisis relative to earlier periods. The results are inconsistent with the idea that distortions in the origination of credit caused the housing boom and the crisis and are more consistent with an expectations-based view where both home buyers and lenders were buying into increasing housing values and defaulted once prices dropped.

Keywords: Mortgage credit, mortgage origination, financial crisis, income

JEL Classification: E44, E51, G21, L85, O51, R21, R30, D30, G21

Suggested Citation

Adelino, Manuel and Schoar, Antoinette and Severino, Felipe, Loan Originations and Defaults in the Mortgage Crisis: Further Evidence (June 21, 2015). Tuck School of Business Working Paper No. 2621867, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2621867 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2621867

Manuel Adelino

Duke University ( email )

Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative ( email )

215 Morris St., Suite 300
Durham, NC 27701
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Nova School of Business and Economics ( email )

Campus de Carcavelos
Rua da Holanda, 1
Carcavelos, 2775-405
Portugal

Antoinette Schoar

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management ( email )

50 Memorial Drive, E52-447
Cambridge, MA 02142
United States
617-253-3763 (Phone)
617-258-6855 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Felipe Severino (Contact Author)

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business ( email )

Hanover, NH 03755
United States

HOME PAGE: http://fseverino.host.dartmouth.edu

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