Why is the market share of adjustable-rate mortgages so low?

Over the past several years, U.S. homebuyers have increasingly favored fixed-rate mortgages over adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). Indeed, ARMs have dropped to less than 10 percent of all residential mortgage originations, a near-record low. One might speculate that the decline in the ARM share has been driven by “one-off” factors relating to the financial crisis. However, a statistical analysis suggests that recent trends can largely be explained by the same factors that have historically shaped mortgage choice—most notably, the term structure of interest rates and its effects on the relative price of different types of mortgages. Supply-side factors, in particular a rise in the share of mortgages eligible to be securitized by the housing government-sponsored enterprises, also play a role in the low current ARM share.Adjustable rate mortgages ; Households - Economic aspects ; Economic surveys ; Interest rates ; Mortgages

Global economic activities and the urban space: social & territorial transformations in the location of Call Centers in Argentina

La devaluación del tipo de cambio y baja del costo laboral ha masificado el negocio de los call centers en Argentina y ha provocado transformaciones en la configuración de espacios urbanos. Si bien existen empresas de capitales nacionales, quienes lideran el proceso de inversiones son empresas transnacionales: interviene así una lógica de superponer territorios de diferentes escalas (locales, nacionales, globales). La llegada de esta actividad económica –inédita hasta hace pocos años en la mayoría de los espacios locales- ha generado una rejerarquización territorial de las cadenas de valor, producto de la posibilidad de fragmentar la cadena de producción y exportar las tareas de menor valor agregado. Asimismo las empresas reorganizan el territorio a partir de su interacción con actores económicos y sociales locales, estados nacionales y provinciales, en la relación con clientes y proveedores y con la demanda de mano de obra e infraestructura. El presente trabajo, a través de un recorrido por las características de la localización de este servicio, intenta visibilizar adecuadamente estos fenómenos. Estos cambios son analizados a través de la revisión de formulaciones teóricas ancladas en perspectivas de sociología urbana y sociología de la globalización, que permiten un horizonte más amplio del análisis en cuanto a las transformaciones en los tipos de sociedad que se configuran, así como permiten explorar potencialidades y límites de modelos de desarrollo en espacios urbanos actualmente subordinados.The devaluation of the exchange rate and low labor costs have crowded the business of call centers in Argentina and caused changes in the configuration of urban spaces. Although there are domestic capital companies, who lead the investment process are transnational corporations: a logic intervenes overlap territories of different scales (local, national, global). The arrival of this economic activity, non-existent until recently in most local areas has generated a new territorial hierarchy value chain, due to the possibility of breaking the chain of production and export lower-value tasks. Also firms reorganize the area from their interaction with local social and economic actors, with national and provincial states, the relationship with customers and suppliers and the demand for labor and infrastructure. This paper, through a tour of the features of the location of this service, an attempt to bring these phenomena properly. These changes are analyzed through a review of theoretical formulations perspectives anchored in urban sociology and sociology of globalization, which allow a wider horizon of the analysis on the changes in the types of companies that are configured as well as for exploring potential and limitations of development models in urban areas currently subordinates

When Stigma Kills: Why Abortion in India is Lethal Even Though It’s Legal

Tanvi and Meera both went to get abortions this year, but only one survived. Even though abortions before 20 weeks have been legal since 1971, as many as three women die every day from unsafe abortions, government data shows. Half of all pregnancies in India are unwanted, resulting in more than 15 million abortions a year. Many go unreported, taking place in the shadows because of stigma. Although a new generation in India is growing more open about sexuality, getting pregnant outside of marriage can still ruin a woman’s reputation, shame her family and damage her future prospects. Even if women are already married, abortion is still taboo. In the past decade, access to trained doctors and medical abortion pills has expanded. Maternal deaths dropped. Yet the stigma persists. Women, fearing exposure, often avoid public hospitals. Instead, they seek out unregulated private clinics, visit local healthcare providers or take over-the-counter abortion pills without medical supervision. Where a woman lives, how much she knows about abortion and where she goes for the procedure can make the difference between life and death - like it did for Tanvi and Meera - but the shame they share is the same. https://www.mallorymoench.com/capston

Water Markets, Commodity Chains and the Value of Water

7 pages. Contains references (page 7)

An Investigation into Crowd Out Phenomenon in Local Churches: Combining Experimental and Survey Methodology

This paper presents the findings of an experimental investigation into crowd out phenomenon in an as yet unexplored sector of public goods provision: the local church. I develop an entirely new instrument for experimental investigation into crowd out, using a combination of both survey and experimental methodology. While the survey finds limited evidence for an aggregate crowd out effect due to taxation, the experimental treatments uncover no evidence of crowd out in local churches due to fiscal illusion

An Investigation into Crowd Out Phenomenon in Local Churches: Combining Experimental and Survey Methodology

This paper presents the findings of an experimental investigation into crowd out phenomenon in an as yet unexplored sector of public goods provision: the local church. I develop an entirely new instrument for experimental investigation into crowd out, using a combination of both survey and experimental methodology. While the survey finds limited evidence for an aggregate crowd out effect due to taxation, the experimental treatments uncover no evidence of crowd out in local churches due to fiscal illusion

The Fluid Mosaic: Water Governance in the Context of Variability, Uncertainty and Change, A Synthesis Paper

This report summarises five years of collaborative investigation by Indian and Nepali researchers on water management needs and options in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and parts of Nepal. The sections focus on the specific water management issues and challenges in case study areas. The core messages, however, relate to the fluid mosaic of water governance -- how society may be able to address the sharp edged, immediate constraints present at local levels and shaped by local conditions but ordered within a larger, changing, fluid and poorly understood picture.Field research in case study areas was conducted by Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF, Kathmandu, Nepal), the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS, Chennai, Tamil Nadu), the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur (IDS, Jaipur, Rajasthan) and the Vikram Sarabhai Centre for Development Interaction (VIKSAT, Ahmedabad, Gujarat). The Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET, Boulder, Colorado) coordinated and supported the project

Letter from Mrs. K. Moench

Letter concerning a report of the Dormitory and its affairs