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Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Vol. 59 No. 5 2024

Labor Mobility and Loan Origination

Sumit Agarwal1; Yupeng Lin1; Yunqi Zhang2; Zilong Zhang3

1 National University of Singapore · 2 Nankai University · 3 Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics

Abstract

We find that mortgage loans originated after the adoption of the inevitable disclosure doctrine (IDD; a mechanism discouraging loan officers’ labor mobility) have a lower default probability, a higher loan modification rate, and a lower foreclosure rate. These effects are unaccompanied by any reduction in loan supply and contribute to more stable housing prices. Using the adoption of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act as an alternative identification generates consistent results. Overall, our findings suggest that restricting loan officers’ labor mobility leads to better ex ante screening and ex post monitoring, improving the origination efficiency for U.S. residential mortgage loans.

DOI
10.1017/s0022109023000649
Volume
59
Issue
5
Pages
2099-2132
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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