Benjamin Edelstein

Benjamin Smith, Fernando Ferreira, Jeanna Kenney (2024), Household Mobility, Networks, and Gentrification of Minority Neighborhoods in the US, Journal of Labor Economics.

Abstract: We investigate the impact of recent gentrification shocks on minority neighborhoods in the 50 largest US labor markets. We show that household moves from a given neighborhood are concentrated to few destinations with similar minority shares and strong network ties, but those neighborhoods are farther away from downtown. Gentrification affects Black neighborhoods by raising house prices, reducing the proportion of Black households, and increasing the share of movers going to neighborhoods with network ties. However, gentrification has negligible effects on Hispanic neighborhoods. Overall labor market area segregation decreases after a gentrification shock because highly Black neighborhoods become less segregated.

Benjamin Smith, Morris Davis, Stephen Oliner, William Larson (2023), A Quarter Century of Mortgage Risk, Review of Finance.

Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive history of default risk for newly originated home mortgages in the USA over the past quarter century. The loan-level source data include the entire guarantee book for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We track many loan characteristics and produce a summary measure of risk. Among our many results, we show that mortgage risk had already risen in the 1990s, planting seeds of the financial crisis well before the actual event. Our results also cast doubt on explanations of the crisis that focus on borrowers with low credit scores. The aggregate series are available for download at https://www.fhfa.gov/papers/wp1902.aspx.