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Francis Wong

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Publications    


The Effects of Medical Debt Relief: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments (with Raymond Kluender, Neale Mahoney, and Wesley Yin)

Quarterly Journal of Economics. Volume 140, Issue 2, May 2025, Pages 1187–1241.

Press Coverage: New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, Vox, Bloomberg, The Atlantic

The Impact of Financial Assistance Programs on Health Care Utilization (with Alyce Adams, Raymond Kluender, Neale Mahoney, Jinglin Wang, and Wesley Yin) 

American Economic Review: Insights 4(3), September 2022: 389-407.

Medical Debt in the US, 2009-2020 (with Raymond Kluender, Neale Mahoney, and Wesley Yin) 

JAMA 326(3), July 2021.

Press Coverage: New York Times, Washington Post, Vox, MarketWatch, CBS, Marketplace


Working Papers


Racial Disparities in Housing Returns (with Amir Kermani)

Conditionally accepted, American Economic Review

Links: NBER Working Paper no. 29306

Abstract: We document the existence of a racial gap in realized housing returns that is an order of magnitude larger than disparities arising from housing costs alone, and is driven by differences in distressed home sales (i.e., foreclosures and short sales). Black and Hispanic homeowners are both more likely to experience a distressed sale and to live in neighborhoods where distressed sales erase more house value. However, absent financial distress, houses owned by minorities do not appreciate at substantially slower rates than houses owned by non-minorities. Racial differences in liquid wealth and income stability are important determinants of differences in distress.

Press Coverage: Mother Jones

Taxing Homeowners Who Won't Borrow

Revise and Resubmit, Review of Economic Studies

Links: CESifo Working Paper No. 11185

Abstract: Using high-frequency administrative data covering millions of US homeowners, I document three novel facts about homeowner responses to property tax increases driven by rising home values. First, non-migrating homeowners cut consumption, exhibit financial distress, and do not borrow against their higher home values. These responses run contrary to the predictions of frictionless models, in which homeowners should borrow to avoid costly adjustments. Second, heterogeneity analysis shows that consumption responses do not vary by liquidity, consistent with savings target behavior. In contrast, distress responses are concentrated among liquidity-constrained homeowners. Many homeowners report being debt averse and therefore unwilling to borrow in order to avoid illiquidity and distress. Third, tax hikes induce migration—partly by displacing illiquid homeowners—but do not accelerate neighborhood change. A simple welfare framework reveals that the largest costs of property taxes arise from financial distress among liquidity-constrained homeowners. 

Mad as Hell: Property Taxes and Financial Distress

Abstract: Property taxes are uniquely unpopular and have been curtailed in 46 US states. This study tests whether property tax animus occurs when rising home values raise tax bills and create financial distress. Consistent with this channel, property taxes are more unpopular when governments do not limit how much rising home values can raise taxes. Financial distress is a key correlate of property tax animus in both survey responses and real-world voting behavior. Randomized information treatments indicate that distortionary income-based tax relief reduces property tax animus, suggesting that politically sustainable property taxes require distortionary modifications that mitigate financial distress.


Other Publications


How Racial Differences in Housing Returns Shape Retirement Security (with Amir Kermani)

in Reducing Retirement Inequality: Building Wealth and Old-Age Resilience, Eds. Olivia S. Mitchell and Nikolai Roussanov. Oxford University Press, 2025

Trends in Medical Debt During the COVID-19 Pandemic (with Benedict Guttman-Kenney, Raymond Kluender, Neale Mahoney, Xuyang Xia, and Wesley Yin) 

JAMA Health Forum 3(5):e221031, May 2022.

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