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Table 1. Descriptive statistics
Panel A shows summary statistics for the variables used in the paper. The detailed information about variable definition is contained
in data appendix. Panel B shows the intensity of strategic default by level of wealth and size of the shortfall of the house value. Panel
C shows how many observations we have for each wave of the survey, using the demographic specification (Table 2.B) as
benchmark. A correlation matrix of all these variables is reported in the online appendix (Table A1).
Mean Median Std. Dev. Min Max Obs
Default at -50K 0.089 0.000 0.284 0.000 1.000 6,079
Default at -100K 0.230 0.000 0.421 0.000 1.000 5,761
Morally wrong towalk away 0.823 1.000 0.382 0.000 1.000 6,190
Angry about the economic situation 3.534 4.000 1.333 1.000 5.000 6,420
Govt should impose cap on executive compensation 0.568 1.000 0.495 0.000 1.000 5,353
Govt should regulate financial sector more 0.524 1.000 0.499 0.000 1.000 4,630
Trust banks 3.097 3.000 1.197 1.000 5.000 6,414
Know someone who defaulted 0.326 0.000 0.469 0.000 1.000 6,251
Know someone who strategically defaulted 0.141 0.000 0.348 0.000 1.000 6,076
Percentage of foreclosures in the area 0.046 0.025 0.066 0.000 0.662 5,699
Perceived prob that lender would go after defaulters 0.534 0.500 0.345 0.000 1.000 2,724
Time spent reading/watching news during an average day (hours) 1.357 1.000 1.166 0.000 12.000 4,056
Female 0.513 1.000 0.500 0.000 1.000 6,493
Age <=35 0.092 0.000 0.290 0.000 1.000 6,275
Age >=65
0.319 0.000 0.466 0.000 1.000 6,275
Number of kids 0.507 0.000 0.977 0.000 6.000 6,402
Bought house>5 years 0.775 1.000 0.417 0.000 1.000 5,705
House price expectations (5 years) 3.551 4.000 0.883 1.000 5.000 6,290
Prob. become unemployed 0.123 0.000 0.247 0.000 1.000 6,003
50K shortfall as a fraction of the value of the house 0.366 0.286 0.288 0.006 2.000 5,995
100K shortfall as a fraction of the value of the house 0.732 0.571 0.577 0.011 4.000 5,995
Value of the house 241,631 175,000 355,852 25,000 8,900,000 5,995
Income (100K dollars) 0.687 0.563 0.542 0.050 2.500 5,739
Risk aversion 6.160 6.000 2.583 1.000 10.000 6,451
High School 0.937 1.000 0.243 0.000 1.000 6,320
College 0.659 1.000 0.474 0.000 1.000 6,320
Black 0.063 0.000 0.243 0.000 1.000 6,364
Hispanic 0.038 0.000 0.191 0.000 1.000 6,364
North-East 0.199
0.000 0.399 0.000 1.000 6,493
South 0.361 0.000 0.480 0.000 1.000 6,493
West 0.192 0.000 0.394 0.000 1.000 6,493
Non-recourse state 0.326 0.000 0.469 0.000 1.000 6,493
Level of equity (Value of the house-Mortgage) 188,743 110,000 377,444 -90,0000 8,050,000 4,068
Median level of equity in the area (Zillow) -21,204 -2,736 46,379 -214,305 5,6139 2,805
Feel less morally obligated if:
broker sold mortgage 0.386 0.000 0.488 0.000 1.000 202
bank helped by Government
0.279 0.000 0.449 0.000 1.000 219