We build a model of the US economy with multiple aggregate shocks that generate
fluctuations in equilibrium house prices. Through counterfactual experiments, we study the …

The role of real estate during the global financial and economic crisis has prompted efforts to
better incorporate housing and financial channels into macro models, improve housing …

I review the literature on financial speculation driven by belief disagreements from a
macroeconomics perspective. To highlight unifying themes, I develop a stylized …

This article reviews the surge in research on mortgage default inspired by the recent
foreclosure crisis. Economists already understood a great deal about default, both …

Rising income inequality since the 1980s in the United States has generated a substantial
increase in saving by the top of the income distribution, which we call the saving glut of the …

We exploit variation in mortgage modifications to disentangle the impact of reducing long-
term obligations with no change in short-term payments (“wealth”), and reducing short-term …

Credit supply expansion boosts housing speculation and amplifies the housing cycle. The
surge in private-label mortgage securitization in 2003 fueled a large expansion in mortgage …

By exploiting variation in state capital gains taxation as an instrument, we analyze the
economic consequences of housing speculation during the US housing boom in the 2000s …

What is the role of credit scores in credit markets? We argue that it is, in part, the market's
assessment of a person's unobservable type, which here we take to be patience. We …

In this paper, we use two comprehensive micro-data sets to study how the distribution of
mortgage debt evolved during the 2000s housing boom. We show that the allocation of …