Argentina Agonistes

Default (Finance) ; Debt ; Argentina ; Brazil

Quantitative models of sovereign default and the threat of financial exclusion

Business cycles ; Debt ; Default (Finance)

Homeownership for the long run: an analysis of homeowner subsidies

This paper examines the impact of interest-rate and down-payment subsidies on default rates and losses given default, and finds that down-payment subsidies create successful homeowners at a lower cost than interest-rate subsidies.Mortgage loans ; Default (Finance) ; Housing - Finance

Solving the present crisis and managing the leverage cycle

Yale University professor John Geanakoplos discusses implications of “the leverage cycle”—a phenomenon in which leverage is excessive prior to a financial crisis and unacceptably low during the crisis—for regulatory policy and reform. Presented as the keynote address at "Central Bank Liquidity Tools and Perspectives on Regulatory Reform" a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, February 19-20, 2009.Financial market regulatory reform ; Assets (Accounting) ; Investments ; Equilibrium (Economics) ; Financial crises ; Housing - Prices ; Swaps (Finance) ; Default (Finance) ; Uncertainty ; Federal Reserve System

What have we learned about mortgage default?

By the end of 2009, one out of every 11 mortgages was seriously delinquent or in foreclosure. Economists have devoted considerable energy over the past several years to understanding the underlying causes of this increase in defaults. One goal is to provide a guide to dealing with the existing problems. In addition, a better understanding may help avoid future problems. In “What Have We Learned About Mortgage Default?” Ronel Elul reviews recent research that has shed light on two areas: the extent to which securitization is responsible for the increase in default rates; and the relative contributions of negative equity, compared with “liquidity shocks,” in explaining mortgage default.Mortgage loans ; Default (Finance)

The shape of the recovery

Remarks at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association/MetroHartford Alliance Economic Summit and Outlook 2011, Hartford, ConnecticutRecessions ; Labor market ; Employment ; Housing - Finance ; Mortgages ; Default (Finance) ; Housing - Prices ; Economic conditions

Mortgage default and mortgage valuation

We study optimal exercise by mortgage borrowers of the option to default. Also, we use an equilibrium valuation model incorporating default to show how mortgage yields and lender recovery rates on defaulted mortgages depend on initial loan-to-value ratios when borrowers default optimally. The analysis treats both the frictionless case and the case in which borrowers and/or lenders incur deadweight costs upon default. The model is calibrated using data on California mortgages. We find that the model's principal testable implication for default and mortgage pricing—that default rates and yield spreads will be higher for high loan-to-value mortgages—is borne out empirically.Mortgage loans ; Mortgage loans - California ; Default (Finance)

What can EMU countries' sovereign bond spreads tell us about market perceptions of default probabilities during the recent financial crisis?

This paper presents a new approach to analysing recent movements of EMU sovereign bond spreads. Based on a GARCH-in-mean model originally used in the exchange rate target zone literature, spreads are decomposed into a risk premium, an expected loss component and a liquidity premium. Time-varying probabilities of default are derived. The results suggest that the rise in sovereign spreads during the recent financial crisis mainly reflects an increased expected loss component. In addition, the rescue of Bear Stearns in March 2008 seems to mark a change in market perceptions of sovereign bond risk. The government bonds of some countries lost their former role as a safe haven. While price competitiveness always helps to explain sovereign spreads, it increasingly moved into investors’ focus as financial sector soundness weakened.Liquidity (Economics) ; Default (Finance) ; Bonds - Prices

Optimal reserve management and sovereign debt

Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. However, given the sovereign's willingness-to-pay incentive problems, reserve accumulation may reduce sustainable debt levels. In addition, assuming constant debt levels does not allow addressing one of the puzzles behind using reserves as a means to avoid the negative effects of crisis: why do not sovereign countries reduce their sovereign debt instead? To study the joint decision of holding sovereign debt and reserves, we construct a stochastic dynamic equilibrium model calibrated to a sample of emerging markets. We obtain that the optimal policy is not to hold reserves at all. This finding is robust to considering interest rate shocks, sudden stops, contingent reserves and reserve dependent output costs.Debt ; Default (Finance)

Maturity, indebtedness, and default risk

In this paper, the authors present a new approach to incorporating long-term debt into equilibrium models of unsecured debt and default. They make three sets of contributions. First, the authors advance the theory of sovereign debt begun in Eaton and Gersovitz (1981) by proving the existence of an equilibrium price function with the property that the interest rate on debt is increasing in the amount borrowed. Second, using Argentina as a test case, they show that unlike a one-period debt model, their model of long-term debt is capable of accounting for the average external debt-to-output ratio, average spread on external debt, and the standard deviation of spreads for the 1993-2001 period, without any deterioration in the model's ability to account for Argentina's other cyclical facts. Third, the authors propose a new and very accurate method for solving the model.Debt ; Default (Finance) ; Econometric models