Within the context of the recent financial crisis, the causes and implications of mounting levels of household indebtedness have begun to be examined from a variety of angles: Why have nations differed so drastically, historically speaking, in terms of the level of debt that their citizens...

This study investigates the effect of debt adjustment for bad debts on debt repayment and discusses the optimal principal reduction rate. We use a logit model and propensity score matching, employing the unique dataset of creditors’ ledger, debt adjustment information, and debtors’...

Using account-level administrative data set from a large U.S. financial institution, we assess the impact on consumption and debt repayment of a credit card incentive program that offers cash-back rewards for usage. Using a generalized difference-in-differences design, we find that the program...

In the consumer protection context, most research on American families assesses the extent of harm from overindebtedness along a single dimension: debt, or its kissing cousin, wealth. This essay examines the limitation of this analytical approach and argues that unmanageable debt may harm...

Feminist scholars examine not only the gendered impacts of development programs whose design has been influenced by disciplines such as economics, but also the gendered biases that permeate the models and methods of the disciplines themselves. This essay draws on aspects of feminist critiques of...

We examine the dynamics of a country’s growth, consumption, and sovereign debt, assuming that the government is myopic and wants to maximize short-term, self-interested spending. Surprisingly, government myopia can increase a country’s access to external borrowing. In turn, access to...