RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Douglas W. Elmendorf, April 10, 2008, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Congress and the administration are moving forward in myriad ways to boost beleaguered homeowners and put the economy back on track. Doug Elmendorf, testifying before the Senate, urged policy-makers to expand the role of the Federal Housing Administration to help families in trouble refinance their mortgages, and offered comments on the compromise Senate housing bill. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, May 28, 2008, National Governors Association
The following remarks were delivered by Alice Rivlin during a luncheon speech at the State on Foreclosures and Housing Solutions hosted by the National Governors Association. Illustrating the effects of both the credit and foreclosure crisis providing reasons for optimis in the current state of the economy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Martin Neil Baily, Douglas W. Elmendorf and Robert E. Litan, May 16, 2008, The Brookings Institution
With the U.S. financial system still in a perilous state, Martin Baily, Doug Elmendorf and Bob Litan diagnose what caused the crisis and offer prescriptions for policy change. The authors of this new Brookings paper address two challenges: to resolve the immediate problems and to reduce the likelihood that these problems recur. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Mauricio Cárdenas, September 30, 2008, The Brookings Institution
As the financial crisis has widened, some analysts have asked the U.S. government to consider debt relief for American families who are struggling with mortgages they can no longer afford. Mauricio Cardenas explains how a previous crisis in Colombia offers lessons for the U.S. and argues that U.S. government debt relief is a bad idea. Read More
VIDEO
September 23, 2008
Financial chaos highlights housing and credit market problems that policy-makers must address. A Hamilton Project discussion on September 23 covered the impacts being felt on Main Street where millions of American families have lost their homes and experts suggested where to go from here.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Edgar O. Olsen, September 2008, Hamilton Project Discussion Paper
In this paper, Edgar Olsen argues that the two most serious structural shortcomings of the current system of low-income housing assistance are (1) its excessive reliance on unit-based assistance and (2) its failure to provide housing assistance to all of the poorest eligible families who ask for help. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Michael S. Barr, Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, September 2008, Hamilton Project Discussion Paper
The causes of the mortgage meltdown are myriad and the solutions likely to be multifaceted, but a central problem that led to the crisis was that brokers and lenders offered loans that looked much less expensive and much less risky than they really were. In this paper, Michael Barr, Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir propose a sticky opt-out mortgage system, under which lenders would be required to offer borrowers loans with standard terms. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Andrew Caplin, Noël B. Cunningham, Mitchell Engler and Frederick Pollock, September 2008, Hamilton Project Discussion Paper
If current trends continue, today’s default crisis will soon be followed by an affordability crisis as an ever-increasing number of American households find themselves locked out of credit and unable to transition to homeownership. In this paper, Andrew Caplin, Nöel Cunningham, Mitchell Engler and Frederick Pollock argue that development of shared appreciation mortgage (SAM) markets would moderate the impending decline in homeownership and lower the risk of future housing crashes. Read More
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
8:45 AM to 12:00 PM
Washington, DC
Turmoil in the U.S. housing and financial markets continues, as evidenced by the recently announced rescue plan for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the latest financial turmoil involving Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG. On September 23, The Hamilton Project released three new discussion papers and hosted a three-panel policy discussion on various aspects of the housing and credit markets. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, September 2008, First Focus
Ron Haskins offers ways policymakers could create an entitlement to housing assistance that would more fairly distribute housing benefits and convert housing into a more effective element in the nation’s work support system. The goal of reform would be to get the most out of the resources now devoted to housing by providing at least some benefit to all eligible families that want a housing subsidy. Read More
VIDEO
Alice M. Rivlin, September 08, 2008
The Treasury Department’s decision to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a conservatorship could signal a turning point in the credit crisis that has troubled investment banks for nearly a year. Brookings fellow and former OMB Deputy Director Alice Rivlin examines the impact and the importance of the action.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Douglas W. Elmendorf, September 08, 2008, The Brookings Institution
Douglas Elmendorf offers his views on the federal government's plan, announced on September 7, to take control of troubled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He says "it ensures that the government has full control over the enterprises so that long-run decisions about our system of housing finance can be made in the best interest of society as a whole."
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RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William H. Frey, August 18, 2008, The Brookings Institution
New census projections target the U.S. population to reach “minority majority” status by the year 2042—the year when the white population dips to below half of the total. While this may seem a long way off, William Frey writes that the impending minority surge will impact the youth vote, workforce diversity and cradle-to-grave policies sooner than many anticipate. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Martin Mayer, July 29, 2008, The New York Times
Martin Mayer argues that Congress has given the Bush White House yet another chance to operate outside the Constitution by giving Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson the go-ahead for his two-part plan to salvage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage companies — a blueprint that violates fundamental American principles in two worrisome ways. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, July 18, 2008, Politico
Recent government efforts to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reveal the ambivalence of Americans towards whether these mortgage giants should be more like private corporations or public utilities. Alice Rivlin suggests that, if taxpayers put credit on the line and take the risk of losing, they should also be allowed to share in the gains. She suggests at least partial government ownership and public appointees to the Board. Read More