a mortgage to an individual in the U.S., because of the monitoring costs of the loan. However, an MBS is a bundle of mortgages with a specific risk. Thus, international investors do not need to worry about what the MBS contains. This made international investment in MBSs particularly attractive. In addition, the MBS could be hedged using the CDS market,which made the international investors feel protected. Therefore, loans to individuals that are seen as risky (subprime or non prime loans) increased with the introduction of the MBS market. According to DiMartino and Luca (2007) nonprime loans increased from 9 percent of new mortgages in 2001 to 40 percent in 2006.