In the absence of Fannie, Freddie, and regulation, the market would likely produce mostly short-duration (e.g., 5-year) loans, or longer-duration loans paired with higher down payments, and that outcome would work fine; longer-duration loans would simply require well-capitalized banks to issue long-term bonds and hold more capital, raising rates modestly and giving borrowers an incentive to share interest-rate risk.

forecastpending

Speaker

Arnold Kling

Evidence Quote

I expect we would see 5-year loans some kind of short duration loans or if there were longer duration loans they'd have relatively high down payments and that would be fine

Source

Arnold Kling on the Unseen World of Banking, Mortgages, and Government 07/5/2010EconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 7:04:06 PM

My Notes

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