Expenditure visibility—the extent to which a household's spending on a consumption category is noticeable to others …-average spending. Jointly, these visibility measures explain up to three quarters or more of the observed variation in total-expenditure …

well-being and expenditure patterns of poor single-mother families. Our research suggests that welfare reform did not … affect total expenditures in households headed by low-educated single mothers. However, patterns of expenditure did change …

We analyze contagious sovereign debt crises in financially integrated economies. Under financial integration banks … optimally diversify their holdings of sovereign debt in an effort to minimize the costs with respect to an individual country …'s sovereign debt default. While diversification generates risk diversification benefits ex ante, it also generates contagion ex …

We analyze government interventions to alleviate debt overhang among banks. Interventions generate two types of rents …

Fire sales are forced sales of assets in which high-valuation bidders are sidelined, typically due to debt overhang …