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The Distribution of Household Debt in the United States, 1950-2022

Author

Listed:
  • Alina K. Bartscher
  • Moritz Kuhn
  • Moritz Schularick
  • Ulrike I. Steins

Abstract

Using new household-level data, we study the secular increase in U.S. household debt and its distribution since 1950. Most of the debt were mortgages, which initially grew because more households borrowed. Yet after 1980, debt mostly grew because households borrowed more. We uncover home equity extraction, concentrated in the white middle class, as the largest cause, strongly affecting intergenerational inequality and life-cycle debt profiles. Remarkably, the additional debt did not lower households’ net worth because of rising house prices. We conclude that asset-price-based borrowing became an integral part of households’ consumptionsaving decisions, yet at the cost of higher financial fragility.

Suggested Citation

  • Alina K. Bartscher & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick & Ulrike I. Steins, 2025. "The Distribution of Household Debt in the United States, 1950-2022," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_634, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_634
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    household debt; home equity extraction; inequality; household portfolios; financial fragility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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