Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Before 1998, Texas was the only state that greatly restricted home equity loans and cash-out refinancing for non-housing consumption. Such borrowing was authorized in Texas, for the first time, through a constitutional amendment in 1998. Using state-level panel data and recently developed synthetic control methods based on machine learning we find that the Texas’ constitutional amendments relaxing credit constraints had an insignificant impact on GDP growth. Our findings have important policy implications for the stimulative effect of easier home equity access on GDP growth.