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Evidence on the Effect of US Consumer Bankruptcy Exemptions

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Author Info
Charles GRANT
Abstract

Bankruptcy (defaulting on one's debts) acts as insurance if it allows default in cases of negative income shocks. However, if debts are not fully recoverable, lenders may instead react by limiting the amount that they allow households to borrow. This upper borrowing limit will increase as the punishment for defaulting increases. The US provides a natural test for these effects since rules about which assets may be kept by the debtor (the exemptions) when filing for bankruptcy differ dramatically across the different states. While increasing the level of these exemptions causes less debt to be held by consumers, empirical results also show that consumption becomes much smoother, suggesting that these bankruptcy exemptions help households insure themselves against adverse shocks.

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Paper provided by European University Institute in its series Economics Working Papers with number ECO2003/19.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2003/19

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Personal Finance
G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
K19 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Other

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  3. Gropp, Reint & Scholz, John Karl & White, Michelle J, 1997. "Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Supply and Demand," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(1), pages 217-51, February.
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  4. Deaton, Angus & Paxson, Christina, 1994. "Intertemporal Choice and Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(3), pages 437-67, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Zeldes, Stephen P, 1989. "Optimal Consumption with Stochastic Income: Deviations from Certainty Equivalence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 104(2), pages 275-98, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Richard Hines & Jeremy Berkowitz, 1998. "Bankruptcy exemptions and the market for mortgage loans," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1998-07, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  7. Hall, Robert E & Mishkin, Frederic S, 1982. "The Sensitivity of Consumption to Transitory Income: Estimates from Panel Data on Households," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 461-81, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Christopher D Carroll, 1990. "Buffer-Stock Saving and the Life Cycle/Permanent Income Hypothesis," Economics Working Paper Archive 371, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics, revised Aug 1996.
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  9. Hayashi, Fumio & Sims, Christopher A, 1983. "Nearly Efficient Estimation of Time Series Models with Predetermined, but Not Exogenous, Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(3), pages 783-98, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Vassilis A. Hajivassiliou & Yannis M. Ioannides, 1995. "Unemployment and Liquidity Constraints," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1090, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Flavin, Marjorie A, 1981. "The Adjustment of Consumption to Changing Expectations about Future Income," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 974-1009, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
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  1. Kartik Athreya, 2005. "Equilibrium models of personal bankruptcy : a survey," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Spr, pages 73-98. [Downloadable!]
  2. Hülya Eraslan & Wenli Li & Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte, 2007. "The anatomy of U.S. personal bankruptcy under Chapter 13," Working Paper 07-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. [Downloadable!]
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