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Despite various efforts to address the mortgage arrears crisis, arrears remain at an elevated level. Designing policies to deal with such high levels of distress requires a deep understanding of the precise sources of the problem. Efforts to date, however, have been hampered by a lack of appropriate data. This paper relies on two new and unique datasets which overcome such issues. Specifically, using a combination of administrative loan-level data and a detailed survey of mortgage holders, we assess the role of the labour market, income volatility and housing equity in the mortgage arrears crisis. The results provide new insights on mortgage distress in Ireland; unemployment and housing equity are key drivers, as shown by previous research. However, the results also show that many borrowers experiencing arrears are currently employed. Many of these borrowers have suffered a significant drop in their income, a change in employment conditions or are in fragile employment, i.e. they are on a temporary contract, have been with their employer for a short time or have a history of unemployment. This shows that the current mortgage crisis, and efforts to prevent a further deterioration, requires more than simply targeting unemployment. Rather, such efforts should also aim to strengthen overall labour market conditions and job security.

This paper speaks to the hypothesis that young venture capital firms take companies public earlier than older venture firms in order to establish a reputation and successfully raise capital for new funds. Consistent with the extant literature, evidence from a sample of 85 IPOs on the LSE over the period 1992-99 suggests that companies backed by young venture firms are indeed younger at IPO than those backed by more established firms, and young venture firms have shorter board representation. There is little evidence to suggest greater underpricing for young VCF investments, nor do young VCFs hold relatively small equity stakes. Older VCFs raise larger follow on funds, but there is no significant differential in timing of those funds. Overall, this study suggests that there is insufficient evidence as yet to unambiguously support the significance of grandstanding as a feature of the UK venture capital industry.