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Mortgage Choice as a Natural Field Experiment on Choice under Risk

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  • PHILOMENA M. BACON
  • PETER G. MOFFATT

Abstract

Data on approximately 280,000 borrowers from the UK Survey of Mortgage Lenders are used to model choices between variable and fixed rate mortgages. The choice is assumed to depend on three factors: risk attitude, interest‐rate expectations, and individual discount rate. The ordered probit model is used for estimation, while taking account of a number of econometric issues including missing counterfactuals, selectivity, and endogeneity. A large number of strong effects are found, including: higher income borrowers are less risk averse and have a lower discount rate, and risk aversion rises with the amount borrowed, providing evidence of increasing relative risk aversion.

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  • Philomena M. Bacon & Peter G. Moffatt, 2012. "Mortgage Choice as a Natural Field Experiment on Choice under Risk," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(7), pages 1401-1426, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:44:y:2012:i:7:p:1401-1426
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1538-4616.2012.00537.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Ehrmann, Michael & Ziegelmeyer, Michael, 2014. "Household Risk Management and Actual Mortgage Choice in the Euro Area," MEA discussion paper series 201406, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    2. Dungey, Mardi & Doko Tchatoka, Firmin & Yanotti, María B., 2018. "Endogeneity in household mortgage choice," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 30-44.
    3. repec:mea:meawpa:14283 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Dancsik, Bálint, 2017. "Számít-e a devizahiteles múlt?. A lakáshitelkamatok rögzítéséről szóló döntés vizsgálata mikroszintű adatokon [Analysing the decision of fixing housing loan interest rates on micro-level data: does," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1030-1055.
    5. Alexander N. Bogin & William M. Doerner & William D. Larson, 2016. "Missing the Mark: House Price Index Accuracy and Mortgage Credit Modeling," Working Papers 2016-010, The George Washington University, Department of Economics, H. O. Stekler Research Program on Forecasting.
    6. Michael Ehrmann & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2017. "Mortgage Choice in the Euro Area: Macroeconomic Determinants and the Effect of Monetary Policy on Debt Burdens," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2-3), pages 469-494, March.
    7. Devine, Kenneth & McCarthy, Yvonne & O’Toole, Conor, 2023. "The role of borrower expectations in mortgage choice," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    8. David Byrne & Robert Kelly & Conor O'Toole, 2022. "How Does Monetary Policy Pass‐Through Affect Mortgage Default? Evidence from the Irish Mortgage Market," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(7), pages 2081-2101, October.
    9. Cumming, Fergus, 2018. "Mortgages, cash-flow shocks and local employment," Bank of England working papers 773, Bank of England.
    10. Michael Richter, 2017. "Asymmetric Effects on Financial Cycles in a Monetary Union with Diverging Country Preferences for Variable- and Fixed-Rate Mortgages," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 7, pages 19-36, February.
    11. Bouyon, Sylvain, 2017. "Recent Trends and Developments in European Mortgage Markets," ECRI Papers 12596, Centre for European Policy Studies.

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    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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