Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

About: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is a other organization based out in Dallas, Texas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Monetary policy & Inflation. The organization has 196 authors who have published 994 publications receiving 35508 citations.

Quantitative easing and agency MBS investment and financing choices by mortgage REITs

Abstract: An emerging literature documents a link between central bank quantitative easing (QE) and financial institution credit risk-taking. This paper tests the complementary hypothesis that QE may also affect financial risk-taking. We study Agency MREITs – levered shadow banks that invest in guaranteed U.S. Agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and that are principally funded with repo debt. We first show that Agency MREIT asset growth is inversely related to the Federal Reserve’s Agency MBS purchases, reflecting investor portfolio rebalancing. We then document that Agency MREITs increased financial leverage during the later stages of QE, consistent with “reaching for yield” behavior. However, Agency MREITs countered the heightened solvency risk by extending repo maturity and increased hedging of their funding costs to reduce liquidity and interest rate risk. The findings suggest that research linking QE to increased credit risk-taking should account for contemporaneous changes in financing choices and risk management.

Does immigration affect wages? A look at occupation-level evidence

Abstract: Previous research has reached mixed conclusions about the effect of higher levels of immigration on the wages of natives. This paper reexamines this question using data from the Current Population Survey and the Immigration and Naturalization Service and focuses on differential effects by skill level. Using occupation as a proxy for skill, we find that an increase in the fraction of foreign-born workers tends to lower the wages of natives in blue collar occupations – particularly after controlling for endogeneity – but does not have a statistically significant negative effect among natives in skilled occupations. The results also indicate that immigrants adjusting their immigration status within the U.S., but not newly arriving immigrants, have a significant negative impact on the wages of low-skilled natives. This suggests that immigrants become closer substitutes for natives as they spend more time in the U.S.

Heterogeneous Bank Lending Responses to Monetary Policy: New Evidence from a Real-Time Identification

Abstract: We present new evidence on how heterogeneity in banks interacts with monetary policy changes to impact bank lending, at both the bank and U.S. state levels. We use a new policy measure identified from narratives on FOMC intentions and real-time economic forecasts. This policy measure eliminates some of the movements in the actual federal funds rate that are endogenous to expected economic conditions. We find much stronger dynamic effects, and greater heterogeneity, in U.S. bank lending responses to the new monetary policy measure compared to the standard measure based on realized federal funds rate changes. Our findings suggest that studies using realized monetary policy changes confound monetary policy’s effects with those of changes in expected macrofundamentals. In fact, estimates from identified monetary policy changes lead to a reversal of U.S. states’ ranking by credit’s sensitivity to policy. We also extend Romer and Romer (2004)’s identification scheme, and expand the time and balance sheet coverage of the U.S. banking sample.

Immigration and Education: Setbacks and Opportunities For Earnings along the Texas–Mexico Border

Abstract: This paper examines returns to education and income determinants of residents along the Texas–Mexico border, using the 2006–2008 3-Year American Community Survey data. The returns to education are higher along the border than in the rest of Texas, especially for college educated Hispanic women, suggesting high demand for bilingual professionals. In regressions focusing on the border, controls for English ability and other income factors makes the Hispanic variable insignificant. While in regressions focusing on the rest of Texas, being Hispanic has little impact on earnings. The immigrant variable decreases earnings by 7% along the border, but is positive elsewhere in Texas, suggesting immigrants are relatively well paid for their skill level, but comparatively low skills cause low average earnings. Finally, the border region potentially loses over $900 per adult a year due to lower earnings power from relatively low education levels compared to the rest of the state. Hispanics have the lowest education a...

Employment Among US Hispanics: a Tale of Three Generations

Abstract: Immigrants’ descendants typically assimilate toward mainstream social and economic outcomes across generations. Hispanics in the USA are a possible exception to this pattern. Although there is a growing literature on intergenerational progress, or lack thereof, in education and earnings among Hispanics, there is little research on employment differences across immigrant generations. Using data from 1996 to 2017, this study reveals considerable differences in Hispanics’ employment rates across immigrant generations. Hispanic immigrant men tend to have higher employment rates than non-Hispanic whites and second- and third-plus generation Hispanics. Hispanic immigrant women have much lower employment rates, but employment rates rise considerably in the second generation. Nonetheless, US-born Hispanic women are less likely to work than non-Hispanic white women. The evidence thus suggests segmented assimilation, in which the descendants of Hispanic immigrants have worse outcomes across generations. While relatively low education levels do not appear to hamper Hispanic immigrants’ employment, they play a key role in explaining low levels of employment among Hispanic immigrants’ descendants. Race and selective ethnic attrition may also contribute to some of the patterns uncovered here.