Replication data for: Accounting for the Rise in Consumer Bankruptcies

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AEJMac2008-0164_data			12/07/2019 02:57:PM
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Project Citation:

Livshits, Igor, MacGee, James, and Tertilt, Michèle. Replication data for: Accounting for the Rise in Consumer Bankruptcies. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2010. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-12-07. https://doi.org/10.3886/E116425V1

Project Description

Summary: Personal bankruptcies in the United States have increased dramatically, rising from 1.4 per thousand working age adults in 1970 to 8.5 in 2002. We use a heterogeneous agent life-cycle model with competitive lenders to evaluate several commonly offered explanations. We find that increased uncertainty (income shocks, expense uncertainty) cannot account quantitatively for the rise in bankruptcies. Instead, the rise in filings appears mainly to reflect changes in the credit market environment: a decrease in the transaction cost of lending and in the cost of bankruptcy. We also argue that the abolition of usury laws and other legal changes were unimportant. (JEL D14, E44, G21, G28)

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      D14 Household Saving; Personal Finance
      E44 Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
      G21 Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
      G28 Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation

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V1 [2019-12-07]

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