This paper combines data on current and future property-level physical risk from major climate-related perils (severe convective storm, inland floods, hurricane storm surge, hurricane wind, winter storms, and wildfires) that single-family residences (SFRs) face with data on local economic characteristics to study the geographic and demographic distribution of such risks in the contiguous United States. Current expected damage to SFRs from climate-related perils is approximately $39 billion per year and will rise to $48 billion by 2050 under a “middle-of-the-road” emissions scenario. Severe convective storms are the leading contributor to expected damage, however the riskiest areas are predominantly areas facing hurricane and/or inland flood risk on the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts. Higher current physical risk is associated with lower household incomes, lower labor market participation rates, lower education attainment, higher in-migration, higher increase in expected physical risk by 2050, lower belief in climate change, and greater Republican vote shares. Overall, the results suggest that climate risk mitigation policies are likely to be progressive now and into the future.

This paper compares the careers of Ivy League athletes to those of their non-athlete classmates. Combining team-level information on all Ivy League athletes from 1970 to 2021 with resume data for all Ivy League graduates, we examine both post-graduate education and career choices as well as career outcomes. In terms of industry choice, athletes are far more likely to go into business and Finance related jobs than their non-athlete classmates. In terms of advanced degrees, Ivy League athletes are more likely to get an MBA and to receive it from an elite program, although they are less likely to pursue an M.D., a Ph.D., or an advanced STEM degree. In terms of career outcomes, we find that Ivy League athletes outperform their non-athlete counterparts in the labor market. Athletes attain higher terminal wages and earn cumulatively more than non-athletes over the course of their careers controlling for school, graduation year, major, and first job. In addition, they attain more senior positions in the organizations they join. We also find that athletes from more socioeconomically diverse sports teams and from teams that have lower academic admissions thresholds have higher career outcomes than non-athletes. Collectively, our results suggest that non-academic human capital developed through athletic participation is valued in the labor market and may support the role that prior athletic achievement plays in admissions at elite colleges.   

In 2021, the U.S. Treasury reduced Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) exposure to speculative mortgages.  As a result, GSE purchases fell by about 20 percentage points.  The policy reduced credit to speculative investors in housing, but increased credit to unaffected parts of the conforming-mortgage market. Banks responded by reallocating provision of speculative mortgage credit across their local markets, which in turn affected their provision of small business credit.  These adjustments are most pronounced where banks do not own branches.  The results suggest that banks manage credit provision not only in a macro sense – the focus of most research – but also market-by-market.

This paper uses data on millions of mortgage applications to study the relationship between applicant age and mortgage application outcomes. Conditional on a rich set of applicant, property, and loan characteristics, mortgage applications submitted by older borrowers are associated with higher rejection probabilities. This pattern holds within lender and across loan types. Rejection probability increases smoothly with age and accelerates in old age. The acceleration is slower for female applicants. Inability to maintain properties may contribute as older applicants are more likely to be rejected for insufficient collateral. Lastly, using the loan-level pricing adjustment identification strategy, I find similar empirical relationships between borrower age and coupon rate on mortgages that were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Taken at face value, age appears to be an equally important correlate of mortgage application outcomes as race and ethnicity. Overall, the results suggest that older individuals systematically face higher barriers to mortgage access. Potential explanations are discussed.

This paper proposes a non-pecuniary measure of career achievement, seniority. Based on a database of over 130 million resumes, this metric exploits the variation in how long it takes to attain job titles. When non-monetary factors influence career choice, assessing career attainment via non-wage measures, such as seniority, has significant advantages. Accordingly, we use our seniority measure to study labor market outcomes of VC-backed entrepreneurs. Would-be founders experience accelerated career trajectories prior to founding, significantly outperforming graduates from same-tier colleges with similar first jobs. After exiting their start-ups, they obtain jobs about three years more senior than their peers who hold (i) same-tier college degrees, (ii) similar first jobs, and (iii) similar jobs immediately prior to founding their company. Even failed founders find jobs with higher seniority than those attained by their non-founder peers. 

This paper studies the effect of net income measurement on firms' stock prices and investment decisions when investors have limited attention. We build a model to analyze and compare the effects of two income measurement regimes: one includes changes in unrealized gains and losses (UGL) from financial assets (i.e., the inclusive regime), and the other excludes them (i.e., the exclusive regime). The model identifies conditions under which managers reduce investment in financial assets under the inclusive regime. We empirically test the model predictions by exploiting the implementation of ASU 2016-01, which requires publicly traded firms to incorporate changes in unrealized gains and losses from equity securities into net income. Using US insurance company data, we find that insurers' stock returns react more strongly to changes in UGL on equity securities after the rule change. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that, by 2020, publicly traded insurance companies cut investments in publicly traded stocks by almost 20%. Insurers that had more analyst coverage were less affected by the rule change. Our results highlight the impact that investor inattention has on firms' stock prices and investment decisions.

Among owner-occupied single-family homes in the United States that enjoy the same set of property tax-funded amenities and pay the same statutory property tax rate, owners of inexpensive houses pay almost 50% higher effective tax rates than owners of expensive houses because tax assessments are regressive with respect to house price. Using a near-national data set, I provide empirical evidence that assessment regressivity is partially caused by valuation methods that do not fully incorporate important pricing information such as neighborhood characteristics. Systematic sorting across neighborhoods implies that economically disadvantaged households disproportionately bear the cost of this valuation problem. The findings potentially have important implications for wealth inequality and other forms of ad valorem tax.

We measure and describe the extent of flood-related underinsurance among single-family residences in the contiguous United States. Using data on expected flood damages and National Flood Insurance Program policies, we estimate underinsurance as the amount by which individual properties' expected annual damages exceed existing insurance coverage. We find that 75 percent of total flood losses, or $17.5 billion annually, would be uninsured. Among homes facing any expected flood losses, the average deficit is $2,932 and 85 percent are underinsured. Underinsurance persists both inside and outside the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) special flood hazard areas, demonstrating frictions in the provision of risk information and regulatory compliance. Low-income tracts and areas with a higher share of white residents face greater insurance deficits today and are expected to face higher underinsurance over the next 30 years. Our findings imply nearly half of currently uninsured households would benefit from purchasing flood insurance at prevailing prices.