 Sanctuary policies and the mortgage market behavior: Reducing uncertainty to promote financial inclusionDavid Zuchowski Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 229, issue C Abstract: This paper examines the impact of sanctuary policies on the financial inclusion of Hispanics in the U.S. mortgage market. By reducing local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, sanctuary policies reduce the risk of deportation and signal local acceptance of irregular immigrants and their families. This reduction in uncertainty for Hispanic borrowers and profit-maximizing lenders influences decision-making in financial markets. To identify the effect, I take advantage of the staggered implementation of county-level sanctuary policies between 2010 and 2021. Using an event study approach, I find evidence of a significant improvement in financial inclusion in counties that adopted local sanctuary policies. The results are consistent with the literature pointing to a trust spiral created by sanctuary policies and provide novel evidence that such local policies can serve as a tool for improving financial inclusion. Keywords: Sanctuary policies; Immigration policy; Mortgages; Financial inclusion (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:229:y:2025:i:c:s0167268124004839 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.106869 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D. More articles in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization from Elsevier |
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