Finance

CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options and their estimated effects on the federal budget. This report presents 76 options for altering spending or revenues to reduce federal budget deficits over the next decade.

CBO analyzes how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac achieve their housing goals by offering discounts on their standard fees for mortgages that meet the goals’ requirements and charging higher fees for mortgages that do not meet the requirements.

CBO describes how it selects and uses discount rates to produce estimates for a wide range of federal activities that can have budgetary effects far into the future.

CBO examines ways in which the federal government and private entities share the risk involved in various federal credit programs, including those related to home mortgages, small businesses, and project financing.

CBO describes the role of Federal Home Loan Banks (a government-sponsored enterprise) in financial markets, their financial condition, the value of the federal subsidies they receive, and the risks they pose.

To assess the full costs of federal loans and loan guarantees, CBO has developed a method for estimating the present value of the lifetime administrative costs of certain federal credit programs.

CBO estimates the flood damage homes with federally backed mortgages are expected to face in multiyear periods centered on 2020 and 2050, reflecting the effects of climate change. The agency also analyzes where that damage is concentrated.

CBO describes the commitments the federal government has made through its credit and insurance programs, including housing, real estate, and student loan programs, deposit insurance, insurance for private pensions, and flood and crop insurance.

CBO issues a volume that contains short descriptions of 59 policy options that would each reduce the federal budget deficit by less than $300 billion over the next 10 years.

CBO outlines how it analyzes public-private risk sharing in the federal terrorism insurance, crop insurance, and flood insurance programs. The agency also describes how that risk sharing affects the federal budget.

CBO describes VA’s mortgage guarantee program, provides estimates of the budgetary costs of the program, and compares those costs with expenditures for other federal guarantees.

This report examines approaches to budgeting that would distinguish expenditures for investment in physical capital, education, and research and development from other expenditures.

CBO examines how recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through administrative actions would affect such factors as CBO’s budget projections and cash flows between the two enterprises and their shareholders, including the Treasury.

To explore how changes to financial regulation might affect the federal budget, CBO analyzed three illustrative policies. The agency found that the policies’ largest budgetary effects would stem from macroeconomic feedback. Watch the narrated presentation.

In this report, CBO assesses the usefulness of cash and accrual accounting for several federal insurance programs—including deposit, flood, and pension insurance—and considers ways to increase use of accrual measures in the budget process.

In this report, CBO analyzes a policy that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase their capital by reducing their payments to the government and discusses the effects that it would have on the budget and the mortgage market.

CBO describes the procedures it uses to develop a market-based estimate of the cost of new U.S. commitments to the International Monetary Fund that reflects the small risk that the IMF could incur large losses.