Foreclosing on Opportunity: State Laws and Mortgage Credit
研究州级止赎法律对抵押贷款信贷的影响，发现对借款人有利的法律导致贷款规模减少3%至7%，说明这些法律在贷款发放时给借款人带来实际成本。
Foreclosure laws govern the rights of borrowers and lenders when borrowers default on mortgages. In states with laws favoring the borrower, the supply of mortgage credit may decrease because lenders face higher costs. To examine the laws' effects, I compare approved mortgage applications in census tracts that border each other but are located in different states. Using a regression-discontinuity design and semiparametric estimation methods, I find that loan sizes are 3% to 7% smaller in defaulter-friendly states; this result suggests that defaulter-friendly laws impose material costs on borrowers at the time of loan origination. © 2006 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.