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Consumption, debt and portfolio choice: testing the effect of bankruptcy law

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Abstract

Consumer bankruptcy laws, which vary across states and over time, permit debtors to keep assets below a statutory exemption while debts are forgiven. High exemptions distort household portfolio decisions and tempt households to default on debts, but they also provide a crude form of consumption insurance. We combine information on state-level bankruptcy laws with the Consumer Expenditure Survey from 1984-1999. We find that higher exemptions are associated with (1) higher bankruptcy rates, (2) households that are more likely to simultaneously hold low-return liquid assets and owe high-cost unsecured debt, and (3) slightly better insurance for renters and worse insurance for homeowners.

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  • Andreas Lehnert & Dean M. Maki, 2002. "Consumption, debt and portfolio choice: testing the effect of bankruptcy law," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-14, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2002-14
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    Cited by:

    1. Carol C. Bertaut & Michael Haliassos, 2001. "Debt Revolvers for Self Control," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 0208, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    2. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    3. Lopes, Paula, 2003. "Credit card debt and default over the life-cycle," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 24869, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Agarwal, Sumit & Chomsisengphet, Souphala & Liu, Chunlin & Souleles, Nicholas S., 2005. "Do consumers choose the right credit contracts?," CFS Working Paper Series 2005/32, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    5. Theresa Kuchler & Johannes Stroebel, 2009. "Foreclosure and Bankruptcy--Policy Conclusions from the Current Crisis," Discussion Papers 08-037, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Donald P. Morgan, 2007. "Defining and detecting predatory lending," Staff Reports 273, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    7. Paula Lopes, 2008. "Credit Card Debt and Default over the Life Cycle," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(4), pages 769-790, June.
    8. Irina A. Telyukova, 2013. "Household Need for Liquidity and the Credit Card Debt Puzzle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(3), pages 1148-1177.
    9. Carolyn St Aubyn, 2022. "Consumer choices with wealth preferences and separation of consumption and payment," BCAM Working Papers 2201, Birkbeck Centre for Applied Macroeconomics.
    10. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    11. Kartik Athreya & Juan M. Sánchez & Xuan S. Tam & Eric R. Young, 2018. "Bankruptcy And Delinquency In A Model Of Unsecured Debt," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(2), pages 593-623, May.
    12. Michelle J. White, 2005. "Economic Analysis of Corporate and Personal Bankruptcy Law," NBER Working Papers 11536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Karel Janda, 2009. "Bankruptcies With Soft Budget Constraint," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(4), pages 430-460, July.
    14. Fulford, Scott L., 2015. "How important is variability in consumer credit limits?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 42-63.
    15. Irina A. Telyukova & Randall Wright, 2008. "A Model of Money and Credit, with Application to the Credit Card Debt Puzzle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(2), pages 629-647.
    16. Wenli Li & Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte, 2002. "The macroeconomics of U.S. consumer bankruptcy choice : chapter 7 or chapter 13?," Working Paper 02-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    17. Li, Wenli & Sarte, Pierre-Daniel, 2006. "U.S. consumer bankruptcy choice: The importance of general equilibrium effects," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 613-631, April.
    18. Tufan Ekici & Lucia Dunn, 2010. "Credit card debt and consumption: evidence from household-level data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 455-462.
    19. Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Chunlin Liu & Nicholas S. Souleles, 2015. "Do Consumers Choose the Right Credit Contracts?," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(2), pages 239-257.
    20. Bertaut, Carol C. & Haliassos, Michael, 2005. "Credit cards: Facts and theories," CFS Working Paper Series 2006/19, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    21. Duca, John V. & Kumar, Anil, 2014. "Financial literacy and mortgage equity withdrawals," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 62-75.
    22. Adkisson, Richard V. & Saucedo, Eduardo, 2012. "Emulation and state-by-state variations in bankruptcy rates," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 400-407.
    23. Hwan-sik Choi & Ron A Laschever, 2018. "The Credit Card Debt Puzzle and Noncognitive Ability [Wealth accumulation and the propensity to plan]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(6), pages 2109-2137.

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    Keywords

    Bankruptcy; Consumption (Economics);

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