Data and Code for: How Do Mortgage Refinances Affect Debt, Default, and Spending? Evidence from HARP

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Joshua Abel; Andreas Fuster

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Replication_Files			04/07/2020 08:37:PM
README.pdf	application/pdf	123.9 KB	03/01/2020 06:11:AM

Project Citation:

Abel, Joshua, and Fuster, Andreas. Data and Code for: How Do Mortgage Refinances Affect Debt, Default, and Spending? Evidence from HARP. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2021. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-03-18. https://doi.org/10.3886/E116461V1

Project Description

Summary: We use quasi-random access to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to identify the causal effect of refinancing into a lower-rate mortgage on borrower balance sheet outcomes. Refinancing substantially reduces borrower default rates on mortgages and other debt. Refinancing also causes borrowers to expand their use of debt instruments, such as auto loans, home equity lines, and other consumer debts that are proxies for spending. Borrowers that appear more constrained ex-ante grow these debts more strongly after refinancing but also pay down credit card balances by more. These borrowers also have lower take-up of the refinancing opportunity.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: mortgages; refinancing; monetary policy transmission; heterogeneity; HARP

JEL Classification:
      D14 Household Saving; Personal Finance
      E21 Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth
      G21 Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

Data Type(s): program source code

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Published Versions

V1 [2021-03-18]

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DDI 2.5

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