The housing markets in some eastern states are turning around, largely due to a declining number of REO properties, according to one analysis.
Read More »Do Banks Wait Until Economic Downturns to Build Up Loan-Loss Reserves?
The authors noted that the typical scenario for economic downturns is for the number of problem loans to rise, along with loan-loss provisions. During the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, commonly known as the Great Recession, net charge-offs totaled more than $50 billion, a historically high level. Meanwhile, the provisions for loan and lease losses more than tripled from 2007 to 2008 at the onset of the recession—from less than $20 billion to more than $70 billion in just a year.
Read More »Relationship Between Slow Economic Growth and Income Inequality is Tenuous
Daniel Carroll, an economist with the Cleveland Fed, and Eric Young, a professor at the University of Virginia, contend in their commentary titled "Zero Growth and Long Run Inequality" that "to the extent that different rates of trend growth are associated with changes in wealth inequality, lower growth tends to yield less inequality rather than more."
Read More »