Household Risk Management and Optimal Mortgage Choice
通过生命周期模型，分析家庭在固定利率和浮动利率抵押贷款之间的选择，发现浮动利率通常更优，但对风险厌恶、高贷款额、收入不稳定等家庭吸引力较低。
This paper asks how a household should choose between a fixed-rate (FRM) and an adjustable-rate (ARM) mortgage. In an environment with uncertain inflation a nominal FRM has a risky real capital value, whereas an ARM has a stable real capital value but short-term variability in required real payments. Numerical solution of a life-cycle model with borrowing constraints and income risk shows that an ARM is generally attractive, but less so for a risk-averse household with a large mortgage, risky income, high default cost, or low moving probability. An inflation-indexed FRM can improve substantially on standard nominal mortgages.