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Learning and the dynamics of consumer unsecured debt and bankruptcies

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  • Luzzetti, Matthew N.
  • Neumuller, Seth

Abstract

During the Great Moderation, the consumer unsecured debt-to-income ratio nearly doubled and the personal bankruptcy filing rate more than quadrupled. This historically tranquil period ended in 2008 with a severe recession and a protracted credit crunch. We develop a theory of learning in which consumers and lenders adjust their beliefs about the riskiness of the economic environment over time in response to the realized sequence of aggregate shocks and then embed it into an otherwise standard quantitative model of consumer default. Simulations of the model suggest that learning can explain as much as half of the recent boom and bust cycle in consumer unsecured debt and a modest fraction of the rise in bankruptcy filings prior to 2005.

Suggested Citation

  • Luzzetti, Matthew N. & Neumuller, Seth, 2016. "Learning and the dynamics of consumer unsecured debt and bankruptcies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 22-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:67:y:2016:i:c:p:22-39
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2016.03.007
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    Cited by:

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    2. Caines, Colin, 2020. "Can learning explain boom-bust cycles in asset prices? An application to the US housing boom," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Roch, Francisco & Uhlig, Harald, 2018. "The dynamics of sovereign debt crises and bailouts," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-13.
    4. Cookson, J. Anthony & Gilje, Erik P. & Heimer, Rawley Z., 2022. "Shale shocked: Cash windfalls and household debt repayment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 905-931.
    5. Igor Livshits, 2015. "Recent Developments In Consumer Credit And Default Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 594-613, September.
    6. Nigmonov, Asror & Shams, Syed & Alam, Khorshed, 2022. "Macroeconomic determinants of loan defaults: Evidence from the U.S. peer-to-peer lending market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Tomasz Korol & Anestis K. Fotiadis, 2022. "Implementing artificial intelligence in forecasting the risk of personal bankruptcies in Poland and Taiwan," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(2), pages 407-438, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unsecured debt; Bankruptcy; Adaptive learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers

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