LSU Chair of Finance’s Paper Accepted by Journal of Urban Economics

BATON ROUGE – The Journal of Urban Economics has accepted for publication a paper co-authored by V. Carlos Slawson, chair of the LSU Department of Finance and Latter & Blum Inc. Distinguished Professor in Business Administration. The paper is featured as an “article in press” and will be available online as an associated journal article when it is published.

Titled “Subprime Mortgage Default,” the paper was co-authored with Donald Keenan of the Economic Theory, Modeling and Applications program at Université de Cergy-Pontoise in France and James B. Kau and Constantine Lyubimov, both of the University of Georgia Department of Insurance, Legal Studies and Real Estate.

The paper uses data on privately securitized subprime mortgages to examine the large rise in defaults after 2007 that has become known as the subprime crisis. According to the paper’s abstract, a change in the inherent nature of borrowers, first detected in late 2004, led to deterioration in default performance.

“Evidence also indicates that the secondary mortgage market became aware of this change at about the same time,” the abstract asserts. “The large rise in defaults in 2007 cannot, therefore, be attributed to any surprise other than the unexpectedly large fall in housing prices.”

To view the paper as an article in press, visit http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119011000313#FCANote.  

The Journal of Urban Economics, a focal point for the publication of research papers in the rapidly expanding field of urban economics, publishes papers of great scholarly merit on a wide range of topics and approaches to urban economics.

The Department of Finance at LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business offers high quality programs for undergraduate and graduate students interested in careers in corporate finance, asset management, real estate, insurance, banking, financial planning and business law. Aiming to create exciting educational opportunities for its students, the department employs tools such as the Securities Markets Analysis Research and Trading, or SMART, Lab. This 44-station simulated interactive trading floor enables students to gain practical experience in the fast-paced world of securities analysis, research and trading. Additionally, the Department of Finance encourages, supports, and conducts research in real estate by housing the nationally renowned Real Estate Research Institute.

For more information, visit www.bus.lsu.edu/finance, call 225-578-6291, or email finance@lsu.edu.