Anti-oedipal dynamics in the sub-prime loan debacle: The case of a study by the Boston Federal Reserve Bank

For the purpose of this paper, my main focus will be on an influential study in the period leading up to the financial crisis, and one whose dynamics are representative of the phenomena I wish to explore. This was a study by the Boston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank that was first reported in 1992 (Munnell, Browne, McEneaney, and Tootell, 1996). Perhaps more than any other, it was taken as proof that there was racial discrimination in mortgage lending, and it led to a loosening of the criteria used to assess credit worthiness among black mortgage applicants.