1,944 research outputs found
The 2008 federal intervention to stabilize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
No full textFannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises that play a central role in U.S. residential mortgage markets. In recent years, policymakers became increasingly concerned about the size and risk-taking incentives of these two institutions. In September 2008, the federal government intervened to stabilize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to ensure the reliability of residential mortgage finance in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis. This paper describes the sources of financial distress at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, outlines the measures taken by the federal government, and presents some evidence about the effectiveness of these actions. Looking ahead, policymakers will need to consider the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the appropriate scope of public sector activities in primary and secondary mortgage markets.Government-sponsored enterprises ; Mortgage loans
While the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was generally successful, there is still no end in sight to their conservatorship
No full textSeven years ago the US government dramatically rescued the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, placing them into conservatorship, a situation that remains ongoing. In new research, W. Scott Frame, Andreas Fuster, Joseph Tracy, and James Vickery, assess the success of the rescue using five criteria. They find that while the agencies were able to support mortgage supply through the crisis and afterwards, the rescue was less successful in supporting the government’s macroeconomic objectives. While there is broad agreement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be replaced by a private system, there is no end to their conservatorships in sight
Empirical studies of financial innovation: lots of talk, little action?
No full textThis paper reviews the extant empirical studies of financial innovation. Adopting broad criteria, the authors found just two dozen studies, over half of which (fourteen) had been conducted since 2000. Since some financial innovations are examined by more than one study, only fourteen distinct phenomena have been covered. Especially striking is the fact that only two studies are directed at the hypotheses advanced in many broad descriptive articles concerning the environmental conditions (e.g., regulation, taxes, unstable macroeconomic conditions, and ripe technologies) spurring financial innovation. The authors offer some tentative conjectures as to why empirical studies of financial innovation are comparatively rare. Among their suggested culprits is an absence of accessible data. The authors urge financial regulators to undertake more surveys of financial innovation and to make the survey data more available to researchers.Financial modernization ; Banks and banking ; Patents ; Securities
Development of nonlinear analytical model and seismic analyses of a steel frame with self-centering devices and viscoelastic dampers
No full textThis paper highlights the role of advanced structural analysis tools on the conception of high-performance earthquake-resistant structural systems. A new steel frame equipped with self-centering devices and viscoelastic dampers is described. A prototype building using this frame is designed and a detailed nonlinear analytical model for seismic analysis is developed. Seismic analyses results show the effectiveness of the proposed frame to enhance structural and non-structural performance by significantly reducing residual drifts and inelastic deformations, and by reducing drifts, total floor accelerations and total floor velocities. These results are the basis for further studies aiming to develop design methods and criteria for the proposed high-performance frame
Emerging competition and risk-taking incentives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
No full textThis paper examines two major forces that may soon increase competition in the U.S. secondary conforming mortgage market: (1) the expansion of Federal Home Loan Bank mortgage purchase programs and (2) the adoption of revised risk-based capital requirements for large U.S. banks (Basel II). The authors argue that this competition is likely to reduce the growth and relative importance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and hence their franchise values and effective capital. Such developments could, in turn, lead to more risky behaviors by these two GSEs. It is this last consequence that warrants greater regulatory awareness.
Understanding Atrocities: Remembering, Representing and Teaching Genocide
No full textUnderstanding Atrocities is a wide-ranging collection of essays bridging scholarly and community-based efforts to understand and respond to the global, transhistorical problem of genocide. The essays in this volume investigate how evolving, contemporary views on mass atrocity frame and complicate the possibilities for the understanding and prevention of genocide. The contributors ask, among other things, what are the limits of the law, of history, of literature, and of education in understanding and representing genocidal violence? What are the challenges we face in teaching and learning about extreme events such as these, and how does the language we use contribute to or impair what can be taught and learned about genocide? Who gets to decide if it's genocide and who its victims are? And how does the demonization of perpetrators of atrocity prevent us from confronting the complicity of others, or of ourselves? Through a multi-focused and multidisciplinary investigation of these questions, Understanding Atrocities demonstrates the vibrancy and breadth of the contemporary state of genocide studies.
With contributions by: Amarnath Amarasingam, Andrew R. Basso, Kristin Burnett, Lori Chambers, Laura Beth Cohen, Travis Hay, Steven Leonard Jacobs, Lorraine Markotic, Sarah Minslow, Donia Mounsef, Adam Muller, Scott W. Murray, Christopher Powell, and Raffi SarkissianCanadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Awards to Scholarly Publications ProgramLibrary OA Fun
Fussing and fuming over Fannie and Freddie: how much smoke, how much fire?
No full textThe roles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have become increasingly controversial in the modern world of residential mortgage finance. The authors describe the special features of these two companies and their roles in the mortgage markets and then discuss the controversies that surround the companies and offer recommendations for improvements in public policy.
Small business credit scoring and credit availability
No full textU.S. commercial banks are increasingly using credit scoring models to underwrite small business credits. This paper discusses this technology, evaluates the research findings on the effects of this technology on small business credit availability, and links these findings to a number of research and public policy issues.
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