Robert B. Avery

In this paper, we empirically examine how information about a neighborhood affects the level of lending activity in it.

A baseline evaluation of the variation in mortgage credit flows across different types of neighborhoods using HMDA data collected in 1990 and 1991.

A discussion of how mortgage lenders might use posted lending terms to signal both their eagerness to take new loan applications and their lending standards.

A documentation of racial and neighborhood differences in home mortgage denial rates using data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, exploring the extent to which objective lending criteria are responsible for observed differences.

An examination of how and why individual financial institutions vary in their propensity to attract and approve mortgage applications from minorities, using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) requires depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound lending practices.

Risk-based capital (RBC) is an important component of deposit insurance reform.

Loan commitments increase a bank’s risk by obligating it to issue future loans under terms that it might otherwise refuse.

In November 1999, the U.S. Congress asked the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to conduct a comprehensive study of loans made under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.

Congress enacted the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) to combat redlining, whereby lenders allegedly curtail the supply of mortgage credit to particular neighborhoods.

During the past year, several Federal Reserve reports on home mortgage lending have attracted widespread attention for what they revealed about racial lending patterns.

Studies examining whether mortgage lenders discriminate against borrowers in minority and lower-income areas have traditionally analyzed the relationship between aggregate annual mortgage lending.