Dirty air from wildfires casts a cloud over household finances
Using California's Camp Fire as a natural laboratory, this article examines the effects of both fire and smoke-related air pollution on household credit card spending and repayment.
September 24, 2024
Lower interest rates don’t necessarily improve housing affordability
The direct impact of higher mortgage rates on housing affordability has received much attention. We emphasize that housing affordability not only depends on mortgage rates but also on house prices, which have competing effects.
April 02, 2024
State and local governments rake in surpluses after pandemic
The existence of large sums in state and local government coffers runs counter to historic post-recession trends. State and local governments usually grapple with budget shortfalls due to rising social program demands and weak revenue streams following recessions.
December 19, 2023
Widening gap between rich and poor poses challenge to U.S.
Economist Jeffrey Fuhrer, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Boston Fed director of research, discusses the nation’s income and wealth gaps and offers proposals to close them. Fuhrer’s recently published book, “The Myth that Made Us,” explores inequalities in the nation’s economic system.
December 13, 2023
Reciprocal deposit networks provide means to exceed FDIC’s $250,000 account cap
Because of their prominence, reciprocal deposits are important in the broader discussion of deposit insurance. Though they have the potential to increase banks’ moral hazard, they also bring increased trust and safety to the banking system.
November 28, 2023
Bankers, regulators absorb lessons of Silicon Valley Bank failure as new tests emerge
Ben Munyan, director of supervisory policy in the Banking Supervision Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, discusses the challenges the banking industry faces in an era of rapidly rising interest rates and how Texas institutions have fared.
September 29, 2023
Texas’ cheap housing edge slipping away as resilient demand outpaces supply
Housing affordability has declined in Texas, a top destination for domestic and international migrants drawn by its historically low cost of living.
April 21, 2023
COVID-era eviction moratoriums improved financial well-being … while they lasted
This analysis leverages new eviction and credit data from Dallas County, Texas, to explore the impact of the moratoriums and to examine trends that surfaced once the moratoriums ended.
April 11, 2023
Biden student loan relief plan allows increased borrowing, less repayment
The Biden plan is expected to boost participation in the income-driven repayments that lower the payment burden. Imposing a cap on a borrower’s income to qualify for cancellation or increasing the cancellation amount for low-income borrowers could alleviate the regressive nature of broad loan cancellation.
September 27, 2022
Research Department Working Papers
A Rescue or a Trap?—An Analysis of Parent PLUS Student Loans
Parents taking out loans for their children’s college educations may face an excessive debt burden that jeopardizes their own financial security. This paper examines the experience of Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) borrowers using administrative data from a large student loan guaranty agency.
September 09, 2022