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Debt Relief and Debtor Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Consumer Bankruptcy Protection

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  • Will Dobbie
  • Jae Song

Abstract

Consumer bankruptcy is one of the largest social insurance programs in the United States, but little is known about its impact on debtors. We use 500,000 bankruptcy filings matched to administrative tax and foreclosure data to estimate the impact of Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection on subsequent outcomes. Exploiting the random assignment of bankruptcy filings to judges, we find that Chapter 13 protection increases annual earnings by $5,562, decreases five-year mortality by 1.2 percentage points, and decreases five-year foreclosure rates by 19.1 percentage points. These results come primarily from the deterioration of outcomes among dismissed filers, not gains by granted filers.

Suggested Citation

  • Will Dobbie & Jae Song, 2014. "Debt Relief and Debtor Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Consumer Bankruptcy Protection," NBER Working Papers 20520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20520
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • K35 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Personal Bankruptcy Law

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