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The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

CRA Research

There is an increasingly large body of research on the impact of the CRA on communities and financial institutions. The passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the 25th anniversary of the CRA have increased interest and activity in this area of research. One recent literature review cited over 100 papers on the impact of the CRA and related topics, including community reinvestment agreements and the impact of mergers on CRA activity. The growth in the volume of research, while welcome, has by its very breadth made it more difficult for policy makers and community development practitioners to access and understand what has been shown by these studies. To enhance the accessibility of this research, short, understandable summaries of current work on the effectiveness of the CRA are provided below.

(These summaries are provided for informational purposes only. The summary of a paper here does not imply that the conclusions contained therein are endorsed by the Federal Reserve. To recommend a paper for inclusion here, e-mail Community Development.)

Papers
• Has the CRA Increased Lending for Low-Income Home Purchases?
• CRA Special Lending Programs
• The Community Reinvestment Act After Financial Modernization: A Baseline Report
• The Community Reinvestment Act After Financial Modernization: A Final Report
• Community Reinvestment and Cities: A Literature Review of CRA's Impact and Future
• Do CRA Agreements Influence Lending Patterns?
• Does the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Cause Banks to Provide a Subsidy to Some Mortgage Borrowers?
• From Confrontation to Collaboration? Banks, Community Groups, and the Implementation of Community Reinvestment Agreements
• Regulatory Incentives and Consolidation: The Case of Commercial Bank Mergers and the Community Reinvestment Act
• Report on the Performance and Profitability of CRA-Related Lending
• Trends in Home Purchase Lending: Consolidation and the Community Reinvestment Act
• The 25th Anniversary of the Community Reinvestment Act: Access to Capital in an Evolving Financial Services System
• What Can Price Theory Say about the Community Reinvestment Act?