- Which numbers jump out to you from Table 1?
- Do you understand the regression underlying Figure 1?
- What do you think of the author’s initial premise:
- What simplifying assumptions does the author make in their model?
- Why is the Result component a partial equilibrium analysis?
- Which of the following model based results do you find most interesting? Which one would you like to see the author explore further?
- How would you frame the following figure for policy makers?
- Which Counterfactual Proposals do you find interesting?
Background
- “Rental housing developments are eligible for the tax credit if at least 20 percent of their units are affordable to households earning up to 50% of the metropolitan area’s median family income or if at least 40% of the units are affordable to households earning 60% of the median.” - Schwartz (2021)
- “According to CohnReznick, an accounting advisory firm that specializes in LIHTC, banks accounted for about 85% of all tax-credit investments from 2015-2017” - Schwartz (2021)
- Prior to the Great Recession - “The GSEs were the single largest investors in the LIHTC, accounting for about 40% of the market.” - Schwartz (2021)
- “Banks used their tax-credit investments to strengthen their ratings under the Community Reinvestment Act” - Schwartz (2021)