Explaining Analytical Methods

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 estimates the costs of federal credit programs in 2025 in two ways—following procedures prescribed by the Federal Credit Reform Act and using a fair-value approach, which measures the market value of the government’s obligations.

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 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 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 the securitization programs of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and compares its baseline budget projections for Ginnie Mae with outcomes under a scenario of severe economic stress.

This report explains the details of two approaches to measuring the cost of government activities that involve financial risk, the qualitative differences between them, and their application to various activities and programs.

CBO examines how enrollment in income-driven plans has changed and how those plans will affect the federal budget. CBO projects the costs of two sets of options that would change the availability of such plans or change borrowers’ payments.

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 examines how FHA’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program works, how it affects the federal budget, and how various policy approaches might reduce costs and risks to the government or to borrowers.

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.

CBO examines how federal control affects the GSEs’ budgetary treatment and describes how different accounting approaches affect estimates of the costs of the GSEs and of potential policy changes.

In this primer, CBO discusses the methodological differences between the FCRA and fair-value approaches and how those differences affect estimates of the cost of federal credit programs.