This paper explores the determinants of people’s decisions to take 401(k) loans. We argue that 401(k) plans do not simply represent retirement saving, but they also provide a means of saving for precautionary purposes. We model factors that rationally would induce people to borrow from their pension plans, and we explain why people do not often use 401(k) loans to replace their more expensive c...

Disclosure regulation in credit markets is often put forth as a critical form of consumer "protection", but there is little hard evidence on why consumers need protection or whether disclosure regulation affects market outcomes. We address these two gaps. First we provide a new microfoundation for the widespread emphasis on consumer protection via mandated interest rate disclosure. The microfou...

This paper uses insights from behavioral economics to explain a particularly surprising borrowing phenomenon: One in six undergraduate students offered interest-free loans turn them down. Models of impulse control predict that students may optimally reject subsidized loans to avoid excessive consumption during school. Using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), we investigate st...

Using detailed data on gifts, loans, and asset sales, this paper investigates how rural Filipino households deal with income and expenditure shocks. We find that shocks have a strong effect on gifts and informal loans, but little effect on sales of livestock and grain. Mutual insurance does not appear to take place at the village level; rather, households receive help primarily through networks...

One important characteristic of the recent mortgage crisis is the prevalence of subprime mortgages with adjustable interest rates and their high default rates. In this paper, we build and estimate a dynamic structural model of adjustable-rate mortgage defaults using unique mortgage loan level data. The data contain detailed information not only on borrowers’ mortgage payment history and lender ...

Introduction Residential mortgage loans are the major instrument of housing finance. A mortgage arrangement is equivalent to an exchange of a loan today for a stream of future payments. In general, a household or investor will borrow whenever the marginal cost of borrowing is less than the marginal utility or benefit derived from the asset. Mortgage loans are secured by the real property, and p...

The aim of this article is to investigate the dynamic correlation between the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty index (GEPU) and Non-Performing Loans (NPL) in Iran. The relationship between economic uncertainty and banking performance indices is significant because of the systemic importance of banks in every economy. We evaluated this relationship in this developing country, especially under ...

Financial statements of nineteen mature banks have been patronized to examine the impact of macroeconomic indicators and bank-specific determinants on the NPLs ratio through Quantile and Panel Data regression approaches. The impact of macroeconomic indicators on credit risk is statistically estimated for banking network via two directions. First, different quantiles are econometrically calculat...

In this paper we study the impact of more transparency in the interbank market on the volume of bank intermediated loans and on the profitability of the banking business. Transparency is modeled by means of the informational content of publicly observable signals correlated to the random interbank interest rate. We find that more transparency may increase or decrease the volume of bank loans. I...