Contact Information
Northwestern University
Kellogg School of Management
2211 Campus Drive; Office 4462
Evanston, IL 60208
T: 847-467-4874
Email: nitzan.ilan@kellogg.northwestern.edu
Personal website: nitzantzur-ilan.com
Research Fields
Household Finance, Real Estate, Financial Regulation, FinTech, and Climate Change
Research Appointments
Kellogg School of Management, Post-doc Fellow, 2019-present
UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, Gilbert Research Fellow, 2020-2021
Bank of Israel, Researcher, 2014-present
Education
Ph.D., Finance, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2018
M.B.A., Finance, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2011
B.A., Economics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2009
Curriculum Vitae
Working Papers
The Real Consequences of LTV Limits on Housing Choices (Job Market Paper)
Revise& Resubmit, Review of Financial Studies
This paper provides novel evidence on the real consequences of LTV limits on housing choices. I exploit the introduction of LTV limits in Israel in 2010 and 2012 using a unique and detailed loan-level dataset. I find that the LTV limits, which were design to lower borrowers’ risk, resulting in borrowers choosing more affordable housing units, farther from the central business district, and in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods. In addition, those LTV limits increase interest rates and reduce loan amounts. My evidence suggests that macroprudential policies, which focus on the stability of the financial system, thus have micro-implications on location choices, commuting costs, and moving to less-advantaged areas.
The Determinants of Fiscal and Monetary Policies During the Covid-19 Crisis (with Efraim Benmelech)
As countries around the world grapple with Covid-19, their economies are grinding to a halt. For the first time since the Great Depression, both advanced economies and developing economies are in recession. Governments and central banks have responded to the pandemic and the economic crisis using both fiscal and monetary tools on a scale that the world has not witnessed before. This paper analyzes the determinants of fiscal and monetary policies during the Covid-19 crisis. We find that high-income countries announced larger fiscal policies than lower-income countries. We also find that a country’s credit rating is the most important determinant of its fiscal spending during the pandemic. High-income countries entered the crisis with historically low interest rates and as a result were more likely to use nonconventional monetary policy tools. These findings raise the concern that countries with poor credit histories – those with lower credit ratings and, in particular, lower-income countries – will not be able to deploy fiscal policy tools effectively during economic crises.
The effect of LTV-based risk weights on house prices: Evidence from an Israeli macroprudential policy (with Steven Laufer)
Journal of Urban Economics
This paper studies the link between macroprudential regulation and house prices by asking whether policies that impose higher risk weights on high-LTV mortgages can slow house price growth. Studying a 2010 Israeli policy, we find that the prices on housing units likely to be purchased using mortgages subject to higher risk weights are reduced by about 2 1/2 percent. We find that the policy has larger effects in more expensive areas of the country and, in particular, in lower quality neighborhoods within these more expensive areas. Combining our results with estimates of the effect of this policy on mortgage interest rates, we derive an estimate for the semi-elasticity of house prices with respect to mortgage rates that is consistent with the upper range of estimates reported in the literature.
More Than Shelter: The Effects of Rental Eviction Moratoria on Household Well-Being (with Stuart Gabriel and Xudong An)
We investigate the impact of 2020 COVID-19 rental eviction moratoria on household well-being. Analysis of new panel data indicates that eviction moratoria reduced evictions and resulted in redirection of scarce household financial resources to immediate consumption needs, notably including food and grocery spending. We also find that eviction moratoria reduced household food insecurity and mental stress, with larger effects evidenced among African American households. Findings suggest broad salutary effects of eviction moratoria during a period of widespread virus and economic distress.
Macroprudential Policy: Implementation, Effects, and Lessons
In this paper I overview the development of macroprudential policy (MPP) and, in particular, its regulatory structure, its influence on the financial system, and its costs and benefits. I find that the effectiveness of MPP depends on the institutional setup in which it is implemented it: often, MPP is under the responsibility of the central banks, but this setup may generate conflicts between MPP and traditional monetary policy. I also discuss another issue undermining the effectiveness of MPP, namely, “leakages,” migrations of financial activity outside the scope of application and enforcement of the MPP tool. Based on the Israeli experience of implementing MPP, I argue that coordination between the regulatory authorities supervising different segments of the financial system is crucial for the successful implementation of MPP.