Macroeconomic Effects of Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Policies

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mitman, Kurt
• 署名单位: Stockholm University; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20120512
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2219-2255
• 关键词: Consumer bankruptcy; Personal bankruptcy; fresh start; credit; PROPERTY; default; welfare; RISK; LAWS

摘要

I study the implications of two major debt-relief policies in the United States: the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). To do so, I develop a model of housing and default that includes relevant dimensions of credit-market policy and captures rich heterogeneity in household balance sheets. The model also explains the observed cross-state variation in consumer default rates. I find that BAPCPA significantly reduced bankruptcy rates, but increased foreclosure rates when house prices fell. HARP reduced foreclosures by 1 percentage point and provided substantial welfare gains to households with high loan-to-value mortgages.