IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/125812.html

Personal Bankruptcy Can Be Economically Justified Even in a Non-stochastic Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Harashima, Taiji

Abstract

Personal bankruptcy is usually justified in theory on the grounds that households always face substantial risks, which conversely implies that if there is no risk, personal bankruptcy is only socially harmful. However, even in a non-stochastic environment, households can persistently owe large debts because of heterogeneities in their preferences and abilities. Moreover, the usually implemented means of public assistance cannot necessarily prevent households from persistently owing large debts because of these heterogeneities. In this paper, I show that personal bankruptcy can prevent households from persistently owing large debts resulting from their heterogeneities, and that personal bankruptcy can therefore be justified even in a non-stochastic environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Harashima, Taiji, 2026. "Personal Bankruptcy Can Be Economically Justified Even in a Non-stochastic Environment," MPRA Paper 125812, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125812
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/125812/1/MPRA_paper_125812.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Wenli & Sarte, Pierre-Daniel, 2006. "U.S. consumer bankruptcy choice: The importance of general equilibrium effects," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 613-631, April.
    2. Igor Livshits & James MacGee & Michèle Tertilt, 2007. "Consumer Bankruptcy: A Fresh Start," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 402-418, March.
    3. repec:srs:journl:volume:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:73-100 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Harashima, Taiji, 2023. "Numerical Simulations of How Economic Inequality Increases in Democratic Countries," MPRA Paper 118710, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Pradeep Dubey & John Geanakoplos & Martin Shubik, 2005. "Default and Punishment in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(1), pages 1-37, January.
    6. Harashima, Taiji, 2020. "An Alternative Rationale for the Necessity of an Inheritance Tax," MPRA Paper 100015, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. repec:srs:volume:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:73-100 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:srs:journl:tpref:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:73-100 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Harashima, Taiji, 2018. "Do Households Actually Generate Rational Expectations? “Invisible Hand” for Steady State," MPRA Paper 88822, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Zame, William R, 1993. "Efficiency and the Role of Default When Security Markets Are Incomplete," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1142-1164, December.
    11. Athreya, Kartik B. & Simpson, Nicole B., 2006. "Unsecured debt with public insurance: From bad to worse," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 797-825, May.
    12. Taiji HARASHIMA, 2014. "Sustainable Heterogeneity In Exogenous Growth Models. The Socially Optimal Distribution By Government’S Intervention," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 5(1), pages 73-100.
    13. Harashima, Taiji, 2020. "Economic Inequality Exacerbated by Economic Rents from Exploitative Contracting," MPRA Paper 104178, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Narayana R. Kocherlakota, 1996. "Implications of Efficient Risk Sharing without Commitment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(4), pages 595-609.
    15. Kartik B. Athreya & Xuan S. Tam & Eric Young, 2012. "Debt default and the insurance of labor income risks," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 98(4Q), pages 255-307.
    16. Harashima, Taiji, 2012. "Sustainable Heterogeneity as the Unique Socially Optimal Allocation for Almost All Social Welfare Functions," MPRA Paper 40938, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Robert A. Becker, 1980. "On the Long-Run Steady State in a Simple Dynamic Model of Equilibrium with Heterogeneous Households," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(2), pages 375-382.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Igor Livshits, 2015. "Recent Developments In Consumer Credit And Default Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 594-613, September.
    2. Gordon, Grey, 2017. "Optimal bankruptcy code: A fresh start for some," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 123-149.
    3. Kyle F. Herkenhoff, 2012. "Informal unemployment insurance and labor market dynamics," Working Papers 2012-057, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    4. Koudijs, Peter & Salisbury, Laura, 2020. "Limited liability and investment: Evidence from changes in marital property laws in the US South, 1840–1850," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 1-26.
    5. Florian Exler & Michéle Tertilt, 2020. "Consumer Debt and default: A Macro Perspective," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_153v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    6. J. Carter Braxton & Kyle Herkenhoff & Gordon M. Phillips, 2024. "Can the Unemployed Borrow? Implications for Public Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(9), pages 3025-3076.
    7. Martins-da-Rocha, Victor Filipe & Vailakis, Yiannis, 2010. "Competitive equilibria in infinite-horizon collateralized economies with default penalties," FGV EPGE Economics Working Papers (Ensaios Economicos da EPGE) 703, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil).
    8. Mateos-Planas, Xavier, 2009. "A model of credit limits and bankruptcy with applications to welfare and indebtedness," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 910, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    9. Xavier Mateos-Planas, 2011. "Consumer default with complete markets," 2011 Meeting Papers 954, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Mankart, Jochen & Rodano, Giacomo, 2015. "Personal bankruptcy law, debt portfolios, and entrepreneurship," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 157-172.
    11. Ionescu, Felicia, 2009. "Risky College Investment under Alternative Bankruptcy Regimes for Student Loans," Working Papers 2009-01, Department of Economics, Colgate University.
    12. Le Grand, François & Ragot, Xavier, 2021. "Sovereign default and liquidity: The case for a world safe asset," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    13. Sergio Rebelo & Neng Wang & Jinqiang Yang, 2018. "Rare Disasters, Financial Development, and Sovereign Debt," NBER Working Papers 25031, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Kartik B. Athreya, 2005. "Equilibrium models of personal bankruptcy : a survey," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 91(Spr), pages 73-98.
    15. Xavier Mateos-Planas & Giulio Seccia, 2014. "Consumer default with complete markets: default-based pricing and finite punishment," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(3), pages 549-583, August.
    16. Borys Grochulski, 2007. "Optimal Personal Bankruptcy Design: A Mirrlees Approach," 2007 Meeting Papers 1008, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Corradin, S. & Gropp, R. & Huizinga, H.P. & Laeven, L., 2010. "Who Invests in Home Equity to Exempt Wealth from Bankruptcy?," Discussion Paper 2010-118, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    18. Patrick Bolton & Ye Li & Neng Wang & Jinqiang Yang, 2020. "Dynamic Banking and the Value of Deposits," NBER Working Papers 28298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Mateos-Planas, Xavier & Seccia, Giulio, 2006. "Welfare implications of endogenous credit limits with bankruptcy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2081-2115, November.
    20. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/3jhmd4ib388m99gnolvi8klga2 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3jhmd4ib388m99gnolvi8klga2 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Kyle F Herkenhoff, 2019. "The Impact of Consumer Credit Access on Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(6), pages 2605-2642.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125812. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.