GSE Reform: Will it Happen and What Form Will it Take?

The government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed almost 8 years ago and have been in the government’s conservatorship ever since. Despite recent attempts, the body politic has been unable to reach consensus on how to reform them. Yet new initiatives, like the credit risk transfer programs have brought back private capital bearing credit risk. Four leading proposals for reform are referenced below and were discussed at the Center's Fifth Annual Fall Symposium. The panel weighed each proposals pros and cons. The panel assessed prospects for reform under a Clinton or Trump administration. Lastly, the panel  also discussed the upcoming roll-off of the agency RMBS portfolios accumulated as part of the Quantitative Easing programs and how the roll-off will affect mortgage markets.

Panelists:
Moderator: Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, David S. Loeb Professor of Finance and Director of the CREFR, NYU Stern School of Business
Andrew Davidson, Founder, Andrew Davidson & Co.
Ed DeMarco, Senior Fellow in Residence, Milken Institute
Patricia Mosser, Senior Research Scholar and Senior Fellow, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs
Phillip Swagel, Professor in International Economic Policy, University of Maryland


Phasing out the GSEs
Vadim Elenev, Tim Landvoigt, and Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh

Principles–and a solution–for GSE reform
Patricia Mosser

Eight Years is More Than Enough: A Proposal for a New Secondary Mortgage Market
Ed DeMarco and Michael Bright

Toward a New Secondary Mortgage Market
Ed DeMarco and Michael Bright

Three Dynamics of Credit Risk Transfers
Andrew Davidson

Four Steps Forward: Streamline, Share Risk, Wrap, and Mutualize
Andrew Davidson

A More Promising Road to GSE Reform: Why It Leads to a Government Corporation
Jim Parrott, Lewis Ranieri, Gene Sperling, Mark M. Zandi, and Barry Zigas

A More Promising Road to Reform (Slides)
Jim Parrott, Lewis Ranieri, Gene Sperling, Mark M. Zandi, and Barry Zigas

Legislative Approaches to Housing Finance Reform
David Sharfstein and Phillip Swagel