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Francisca G-C Richter |

Research Economist

Francisca G-C Richter, Research Economist

Francisca G.-C. Richter is a research economist in the Community Development Office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She develops and directs the applied research activities of the group, which focus on issues impacting access to credit and capital in low- and moderate-income communities. A native of Peru, she earned an undergraduate degree in mathematical statistics from the Universidad Católica del Perú, and a master of science degree in statistics and a PhD in agricultural economics, both from Oklahoma State University.

  • Fed Publications
  • Other Publications
  • Work in Progress
Title Date Publication Author(s) Type

 

 December, 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, working paper no. 12-40 ; Thomas J Fitzpatrick; Lisa A Nelson; Stephan Whitaker; Working Papers
Abstract: The housing and economic crises have exerted a strong and lingering impact on housing markets across the nation. In this paper, we assess the degree to which local anti-blight policies have infl uenced housing market outcomes following the crises. The analysis is performed for cities in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. We measure outcomes that characterize market distress and that may be influenced by local housing ordinances including foreclosure, bulk sales, flipping, vacancy, and tax delinquency. Using matching procedures on linked data containing property, loan, and transaction characteristics, we compare outcomes across properties in regulated and unregulated municipalities. Point of sale inspections and vacancy registrations both decrease the probability that homes are flipped (resold within two years). We find that point of sale inspections are positively associated with foreclosures, property tax delinquency, and sales prices below the tax assessed value. The inspections may be revealing the need for expensive repairs in some homes, which could push borrowers underwater and into foreclosure. We find evidence that vacancy registration requirements do lower vacancy. The discussion around policies for housing market recovery, for the most part, has addressed efforts at the federal level. This analysis integrates in discussion of efforts and policies arising at the local level.
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 March, 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, working paper no. 12-08 ; Dionissi Aliprantis; Working Papers
Abstract: This paper estimates Marginal Treatment Effects (MTEs) of neighborhood quality from the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) housing mobility experiment in a model with multiple treatment levels. We propose and implement a new identification strategy that exploits the identification of the idiosyncratic component of an ordered choice model. Due to the limited changes in neighborhood quality induced by MTO, we only estimate MTEs of moving from the first to second decile of the national distribution of neighborhood quality. These MTEs are heterogeneous over observable characteristics: Labor market outcomes were affected most positively for individuals at the sites in which larger changes in neighborhood quality were induced by MTO. Estimated MTEs are also heterogeneous over unobservables, which we consider evidence in favor of selection occurring in a model with essential heterogeneity. Although there is not enough structure in our model to clearly interpret MTE heterogeneity, we discuss possible reasons for the surprising result that effects are best for those with characteristics that make them less likely to move without the program.
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 September, 2011 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, working paper no. 11-19 ; Youngme Seo; Working Papers
Abstract: Overall regional conditions such as employment, geography, and amenities, favor the co-movement of housing prices in central cities and their suburbs. Simultaneously, over half a century of sprawl may induce a negative relation between suburban and central city home prices, with central city values falling relative to suburban home values. What happens to the relationship between subhousing markets when cities are shocked by the foreclosure crisis? This paper builds repeat-sales indices to explore home price dynamics before and after the foreclosure crisis in the Cleveland area, a market that in the aggregate had little home price appreciation prior to the crisis, but significant follow-up depreciation. The analysis finds evidence that connectedness, expressed as the relative importance of neighboring housing market conditions in explaining city home prices, increases among submarkets even as they experience varying levels of foreclosure rates, and that foreclosure effects give little sign of receding in the near future. The analysis is relevant to the discussion of economic recovery among city and suburban communities as the nation faces high inventories of soon-to-be foreclosed properties.
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 October 19, 2010 A Look Behind the Numbers ; Lisa A Nelson; A Look Behind the Numbers
Abstract: While relatively few delinquent loans in Ohio are being modified, recent modifications appear to be more successful than past ones. Still, the small percentage of seriously delinquent loans being modified in Ohio, coupled with declining self-recovery rates, suggests that current policy efforts have not been able to effectively cope with the foreclosure crisis to date.
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 June, 2010 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Working Paper no. 1006 ; Ben R Craig; Working Papers
Abstract: Concentrated poverty has been said to impose a double burden on those that confront it. In addition to an individual’s own financial constraints, institutions and social networks of poor neighborhoods can further limit access to quality services and resources for those that live there. This study contributes to the characterization of the relationship between subprime lending and poor neighborhoods by including a spatial dimension to the analysis, in an attempt to capture social effect differences in poor and less poor neighborhoods. The analysis is applied to 2004-2006 census tract level data in Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, Ohio, a region that features urban neighborhoods highly segregated by income and race. The patterns found in poor neighborhoods suggest stronger social interaction effects inducing subprime lending in comparison to less poor neighborhoods.
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 November, 2008 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Working Paper no. 0811 ; Working Papers
Abstract: A quantile regression model is used to identify the main neighborhood characteristics associated with high foreclosure rates in weak market neighborhoods, specifically for two counties in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania. A decomposition technique by Machado and Mata (2005) allows separating foreclosure filing rate differentials across counties into two components: the first due to differences in the levels of neighborhood characteristics and the second due to differences in the model parameters. At higher than median rates, foreclosure rate differentials between counties in Ohio are mainly explained by the levels of these characteristics. However, foreclosure rate differences between counties across states are mainly explained by the parameter component, suggesting that state level effects might have contributed to shape foreclosure rate outcomes.
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Title Date Publication Author(s) Type

 

 August, 2006 Journal of Productivity Analysis, vol. 25, no. 3, pp.279-289 ; B. Wade Brorsen; Journal Article
Abstract: This article develops a measure of efficiency to use with aggregated data. Unlike the most commonly used efficiency measures, our estimator adjusts for the heteroskedasticity created by aggregation. Our estimator is compared to estimators currently used to measure school efficiency. Theoretical results are supported by a Monte Carlo experiment. Results show that for samples containing small schools (sample average may be about 100 students per school but sample includes several schools with about 30 or less students), the proposed aggregate data estimator performs better than the commonly used OLS and only slightly worse than the multilevel estimator. Thus, when school officials are unable to gather multilevel or disaggregate data, the aggregate data estimator proposed here should be used. When disaggregate data are available, standardizing the value-added estimator should be used when ranking schools.
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 August, 2003 Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, vol. 28, no.02 ; B. Wade Brorsen; Kevin Currier; Edgar F. Pebe Diaz; Journal Article
Abstract: Economists tend to focus on monetary incentives. In the model developed here, both sociological and economic incentives are used to diminish the apparent moral hazard problem existing in commodity grading. Training that promotes graders’ response to sociological incentives is shown to increase expected benefits. The model suggests this training be increased up to the point where the marginal benefit due to training equals its marginal cost. It may be more economical to influence the grader’s behavior by creating cognitive dissonance through training and rules rather than by using economic incentives alone.
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 January, 2001 Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, vol. 27, no 02 ; B. Wade Brorsen; Alix Dameus; Kullapapru P Sukhdial; Journal Article
Abstract: A Cox test with parametric bootstrap is developed to select between the linearized version of the First-Difference Almost Ideal Demand System (FDAIDS) and the Rotterdam model. A Cox test with parametric bootstrap has been shown to be more powerful than encompassing tests like those used in past research. The bootstrap approach is used with U.S. meat demand (beef, pork, chicken, fish) and compared to results obtained with an encompassing test. The Cox test with parametric bootstrap consistently indicates the Rotterdam model is preferred to the FDAIDS, while the encompassing test sometimes fails to reject FDAIDS.
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 September, 2000 Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, vol. 32, no. 3 ; B. Wade Brorsen; Charles Jacques; Journal Article
Abstract: One frequently proposed policy is to consolidate rural school districts in order to save money by obtaining economies of size. The effects of school district size on both expenditures and standardized test scores are estimated for Oklahoma. Results indicate that economies of scale with respect to expenditures per student exist up to an average daily membership (ADM) of 965 students, but that as school districts become larger, tests scores decline. Even if savings in school district administration from consolidation are spent on instruction, state average tests scores would decrease slightly. Thus, school district consolidation can reduce costs, but it will also reduce student learning.
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 Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, vol. 26, no. 01 ; Deevon Bailey; B. Wade Brorsen; Nouhoun Coulibaly; Journal Article
Abstract: A theoretical model is developed to explain the economics of determining price slides for feeder cattle. The contract is viewed as a dynamic game with continuous strategies where the buyer and seller are the players. The model provides a solution for the price slide that guarantees an unbiased estimate of cattle weight. An empirical model using Superior Livestock Auction (SLA) data shows price slides used are smaller than those needed to cause the producer to give unbiased estimates of weight. Consistent with the model's predictions, producers slightly underestimate cattle weights.
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Title Date Publication Author(s) Type
The Impact of Local Ordinances on Housing and Housing Finance

 

 October, 2011 ; Thomas J Fitzpatrick; Lisa A Nelson; Unpublished manuscript
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