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The Persistence of Financial Distress

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Abstract

Household financial distress is pervasive. Is this pattern driven by a small share of individuals experiencing persistent distress, by the majority facing more occasional distress, or something in between? Recent research indicates that over a lifetime, financial distress is unlikely for most but very persistent for some. Models that account for the uncertain evolution of consumers' earnings over time and the availability of formal consumer bankruptcy cannot explain ? by themselves ? this pattern, but a model that also allows for informal default and variation in consumers' willingness to sacrifice future wealth for current spending can.

Suggested Citation

  • Kartik B. Athreya & Jessica Sackett Romero, 2019. "The Persistence of Financial Distress," Richmond Fed Economic Brief, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue March.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedreb:00074
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    Cited by:

    1. French, Declan, 2023. "Exploring household financial strain dynamics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Kartik B. Athreya & Ryan Mather & Jose Mustre-del-Rio & Juan M. Sanchez, 2020. "Household Financial Distress and the Burden of 'Aggregate' Shocks," Working Paper 20-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    3. Balloch, Adnan & Engels, Christian & Philip, Dennis, 2022. "When It Rains It Drains: Psychological Distress and Household Net Worth," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Kyle F. Herkenhoff & Gajendran Raveendranathan, 2019. "Who Bears the Welfare Costs of Monopoly? The Case of the Credit Card Industry," Working Papers 2019-071, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. David Aristei & Manuela Gallo & Pierluigi Murro, 2025. "Financial Knowledge and Financial Fragility: Longitudinal Evidence from Italy," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 11(2), pages 667-702, July.
    6. Amanda Wuth & Magdalena Cismaru, 2021. "A Conceptual and Operational Review of the Negative Financial Health Terminology and Constructs," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(4), pages 1-1, April.
    7. Fulford, Scott L. & Schuh, Scott D., 2024. "Credit cards, credit utilization, and consumption," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    8. Kyle Dempsey & Felicia Ionescu, 2021. "Lending Standards and Borrowing Premia in Unsecured Credit Markets," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-039, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Kartik B. Athreya & Ryan Mather & Jose Mustre-del-Rio & Juan M. Sanchez, 2019. "Consumption in the Great Recession: The Financial Distress Channel," Research Working Paper RWP 19-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    10. Mark Aguiar & Mark Bils & Corina Boar, 2020. "Who Are the Hand-to-Mouth?," Working Papers 2020-9, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    11. José Mustre-del-Río & Juan M Sánchez & Ryan Mather & Kartik Athreya, 2025. "The Effects of Macroeconomic Shocks: Household Financial Distress Matters," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 38(2), pages 564-604.
    12. Roth, Paula, 2020. "Inequality, Relative Deprivation and Financial Distress: Evidence from Swedish Register Data," Working Paper Series 1374, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    13. Kyle Dempsey & Felicia Ionescu, 2019. "Lending Standards and Consumption Insurance over the Business Cycle," 2019 Meeting Papers 1428, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Christa Gibbs & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Donghoon Lee & Scott Nelson & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Jialan Wang, 2025. "Consumer Credit Reporting Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 598-636, June.
    15. Mark Aguiar & Corina Boar & Mark Bils, 2019. "Who Are the Hand-to-Mouth?," 2019 Meeting Papers 525, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    16. Olga Gorbachev & María José Luengo-Prado, 2019. "The Credit Card Debt Puzzle: The Role of Preferences, Credit Access Risk, and Financial Literacy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 294-309, May.

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    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • 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

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