Prior to the crisis, the benefits from the funding advantage that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had by virtue of perceived government support mostly went to their shareholders, rather than into substantially lower interest rates on residential mortgages.
Responses
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
| Participant | University | Vote | Confidence | Bio/Vote History |
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 Daron Acemoglu |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Difficult to know how gains from subsidies were distributed between shareholders and mortgage-holders pre-crisis given implicit risks.
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 Alberto Alesina |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Joseph Altonji |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Alan Auerbach |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Autor |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Katherine Baicker |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Marianne Bertrand |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Raj Chetty |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Judith Chevalier |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Lower rates were also a likely outcome.
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 Janet Currie |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Cutler |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Angus Deaton |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Darrell Duffie |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Hard to be certain. F and F used cheap funding to massively expand mortgage financing, so may also caused a large impact on mortgage rates.
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 Aaron Edlin |
Berkeley | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Barry Eichengreen |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ray Fair |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Pinelopi Goldberg |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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While shareholders certainly benefited, borrowers faced lower interest rates too.
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 Claudia Goldin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Austan Goolsbee |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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research shows only small % went to borrowers. But not all went to shareholders--can't forget the rent-seeking or the emp. compensation
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 Michael Greenstone |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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there is evidence of a small impact on interest rates on loans. i suspect that shareholders AND managers captured some of the rents.
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 Robert Hall |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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According to a leading expert, the estimates of the pass-through to borrowers vary between 1/3 and 2/3.
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 Bengt Holmström |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The fact that investment firms held onto some loans, competing with Fannie and Freddie, suggests consumers didn't capture all of subsidy.
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 Caroline Hoxby |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Kenneth Judd |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Anil Kashyap |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Well documented by Greenspan in 2004! Sadly the F & F losses was one part of the crisis that was foreseen and Congress refused to act.
-see background information here |
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 Pete Klenow |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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At least judging from mortgage rates in the U.S. vs. other OECD countries without GSEs.
-see background information here |
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 Edward Lazear |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Private issuers could have achieved the same effect absent F/F's govt granted advantage. Shareholders' benefits were arbitraged away, though
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 Jonathan Levin |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Eric Maskin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I don't know enough about this issue to express a public opinion.
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 William Nordhaus |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Maurice Obstfeld |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Emmanuel Saez |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 José Scheinkman |
Columbia University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Richard Schmalensee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Hyun Song Shin |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 James Stock |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Nancy Stokey |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Richard Thaler |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Sounds reasonable but I don't know enough to have a real opinion.
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 Christopher Udry |
Northwestern | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Luigi Zingales |
Chicago Booth | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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